The Challenges Life Brings
by avery-h
Summary: Lorelai Hayden was raised in Boston by her father, Christopher. After winding up in the gossip column of the paper one time too many, Chris decides to send her to Stars Hollow. Please read - better summary inside! Slightly OOC at beginning, TRORY, AU.
1. Out of Control

**_DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gilmore Girls or anything else affiliated with it._**

**A/N: Don't worry, my starting this story does not in anyway mean that I have abandoned _Nothing Is Ever Simple_, I am still very much dedicated to it, I just felt the need to write this one as well - I've become re-addicted to Gilmore Girls lately! Anyway this story is AU and slightly OOC for Rory, at least for the first few chapters.**

**Background Information: **Lorelai Leigh Gilmore-Hayden the third aka Rory was raised by her father, Christopher Hayden, instead of her mother Lorelai Gilmore. Chris and Lorelai remained close, even though Chris was essentially raising Rory as a single parent. Because of this Rory and Lorelai have a good relationship and get alone well, even though Rory is closer with Chris. Since she was not living with Lorelai, Rory had always been known to those around her as Lorelai Hayden, not Rory Gilmore. Gigi doesn't exist in this story, 'Rory' gets along well with her Hayden grandparents and doesn't know anyone in Stars Hollow – Lorelai always visited her and Chris in Boston, or they met at either of their parent's houses. EVENTUALLY going to be a Trory.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**Chapter One:**

Christopher Hayden yawned as he bent over to pick up the rolled newspaper sitting on his front doormat. Making sure not to tip the steaming cup of coffee in his hand he carried the morning paper over to the dining room table so he could read it as he ate his breakfast.

Chris lived in a large 2-storey apartment in Boston with his only daughter, Lorelai Hayden. He vaguely wondered whether Lorelai was awake yet, she would be late for school if she didn't get up soon. At that moment his maid/cook, Elissa, walked into the room carrying his breakfast. A hot plate of scrambled eggs on wholemeal toast and half a grapefruit. Half a grapefruit? Chris wrinkled his nose. His mother must have been speaking to Elissa again – Francine Hayden had an unbending rule about grapefruit for breakfast, one thing she was constantly trying to impose upon her son and granddaughter.

"Grapefruit?" He asked with a grimace.

Elissa laughed, Chris was glad she felt comfortable around him and Lorelai. Elissa had been with them for 8 years now. She came in the morning, fixed breakfast and helped make sure they both got out of the house on time. Leaving not longer after them, she usually returned mid-afternoon to clean the house and fix dinner before going home again. She felt like part of the family after all these years.

"What Mrs. Hayden wants, Mrs. Hayden gets. The woman is scary," replied Elissa, trying to look solemn.

Chris laughed at the look on Elissa's face. If he was Elissa and his mother had told him to make sure grapefruit was served for breakfast he knew without a doubt he would be making sure grapefruit was served for breakfast.

"That she is Elissa, that she is. Could you please go upstairs and make sure Lorelai is awake and getting ready for school? She needs to be dressed and down here very soon if she wants to make it on time."

Elissa nodded and headed to the staircase.

Chris turned his attention back to his eggs, attempting to ignore the evil looking fruit sitting inconspicuously to the side, and opened the newspaper he had collected earlier. Turning to page 6 Chris let out a sigh.

"_**Lorelai Hayden: The Hayden Heiress Caught Out And About Again"**_

Just then Lorelai came bounding down the stairs, half dressed in her private school uniform. Her shirt was untucked and her tie loosely draped around her neck. Spotting her father at the dining room table she walked over and grabbed a piece of toast from his plate, not bothering to greet him. Chris hastily closed the paper and placed it to the side.

"Lorelai," he started in a tired tone.

"Dad, don't start with me now," she replied in a voice that signified boredom. "I'm running late for school and Mike is picking me up," she glanced at her watch quickly, "5 minutes ago. Gotta run, might see you tonight though." She added the last part as an afterthought as she quickly ate the last bite of the toast she had stolen from Chris' plate and tucked in her shirt.

"You will see me tonight Lorelai," Chris said authoritatively. "I want you back here at 4:30pm please, I need to discuss something with you."

"Whatever," replied Lorelai as she walked out of the dining room. Chris winced as he heard the front door slam.

Elissa walked back into the room as Chris reopened his paper to the gossip pages.

"Elissa, could you please call the offices and tell them not to expect me today, and to either postpone or cancel all my appointments? I have to go see Lore in Stars Hollow."

Elissa nodded. She had met the older Lorelai Gilmore on numerous occasions when she had come visited Chris and Lorelai in Boston.

Putting down his paper Chris went to get dressed so he could drive down to Stars Hollow and see Lorelai the second.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Lorelai Gilmore looked curiously as she saw the black Jaguar pull up in front of Luke's Diner. No one in Stars Hollow owned a car like that. She knew Chris did, but Chris had never visited her in Stars Hollow. She frowned as she watched Chris step out of the car and look around.

What could he be doing in Stars Hollow. Lorelai sighed. She knew the only reason Chris could be in Stars Hollow without warning was their daughter, Lorelai the third. She thought back to the phone conversation they had had a couple of nights ago.

_**Flashback**_

"_Lore, it's me, Chris."_

"_Hey Chris," replied Lorelai brightly. She loved hearing from Chris, after everything they had been through, he was still her oldest friend._

"_Listen," Chris started awkwardly. "It's about Lorelai. I'm worried."_

_Lorelai the second sighed, she had been expecting this phone call to come eventually. The other day while she was at the drug store in Hartford picking up some cold and flu tablets that weren't 7 years out of date she had picked up a copy of the Boston Globe from the newsstand on her way back to her car. _

_Every now and then Lorelai would pick one up if she saw it, she liked knowing what was going on in Boston, since it was where Chris and her daughter lived. _

"_I know. Chris I saw Monday's Boston Globe."_

_Chris tried to think back to what had been in Monday's paper. He winced as it came to him. Monday's paper had contained a drunken picture of Lorelai draped over one of her male friends, Colin something or other Chris though randomly, waving a half empty bottle of vodka around._

"_I'm guessing since you've called me this hasn't been the only incident," Lorelai continued at Chris' silence._

"_It's been getting worse and worse Lore," Chris confirmed. "Ever since she met this new latest group of friends. Coming home drunk, if she comes home at all, skipping school. And her attitude. She's gone from polite and sweet to rude and abrupt. It's been going on for about 3 months now…"_

"_3 months?" Interrupted Lorelai, shocked. Why hadn't he called her before now if this had been going on for 3 months? Sure, she hadn't raised her daughter, but she still cared._

"_I know what your thinking Lore," replied Chris. "But it started out innocently enough. I thought it was just teenage rebellion at first, God knows we got up to enough back in the day." Chris paused, remembering the fun he and Lorelai use to have. "But it's just been getting worse and worse. I wanted to see if I could fix it before I called you. And I've tried. I've tried banning her from seeing these new friends of hers, grounding her, God Lore, I've tried everything I can think of. She's gotten to the stage now where she doesn't even try to sneak out, she just ignores me and walks straight out the front door."_

_Lorelai's eyes widened as she listened to Chris regale the events of his past three months. The person Chris was describing didn't sound like their daughter at all. It sounded like the antichrist. _

"_What, well… what… I mean," Lorelai started, not really knowing what to say. Taking a deep breath she started again. "Do you have any ideas as to what we can do?" She asked._

"_I've honestly no idea Lore. I'm starting to run out of options here. I just wanted to let you know. If this continues, next time anything happens, I think we are going to need to talk in person and give it some serious thought."_

"_Sure thing Chris," replied Lorelai. "I'm glad you called me," she added timidly. Lorelai wasn't always 100% sure where she stood as a parent to Lorelai the third. _

"_Well, you are her mother. Thanks for listening Lore, I'll be in touch, though hopefully not soon," Chris tried to joke, but failed miserably. His heart wasn't in it, not with the way their daughter was acting._

"_Thanks for calling. See you later Chris," replied Lorelai softly, hanging up her phone._

_**End Flashback**_

It was Thursday morning. Hardly what Lorelai assumed Chris meant when he had said hopefully we wouldn't be in touch soon. She saw a look of recognition pass over Chris' features as he saw the words Luke's Diner painted in a window. Lorelai chuckled, she may have mentioned this place in passing. Or every time she saw Chris.

Lorelai smiled and waved at Chris as he walked into the diner, his eyes scanning the restaurant for her. Spotting her, he walked over and sat down. Lorelai couldn't help but notice how tired he looked.

"So," she started out lightly, "I'm guessing this is not what you meant when you said you hoped we wouldn't be in touch too soon."

Chris closed his eyes momentarily and tossed a newspaper he had just pulled out of his coat across to table to her.

"Page six," he said shortly.

Lorelai opened the paper with guarded hesitation. She had already seen her daughter in the paper once this week, she didn't really want to see her there again. Lorelai gasped as she saw what Chris was referring to. Under the title of 'Lorelai Hayden: The Hayden Heiress Caught Out And About Again' was another picture of their daughter, this time hanging off a different boy. She was wearing a dress that Lorelai thought looked more like a shirt, exiting a well known bar in Boston.

"She needs to get out of Boston," Chris said suddenly. Lorelai nodded, she had been expecting Chris to be thinking something along those lines.

"She can come here," replied Lorelai.

"Thanks Lore, I mean, I know you have your life and I wouldn't ask you to do this, but I've run out of options in Boston."

"It's the least I can do Chris, she is my daughter after all," replied Lorelai.

"Yeah, but I'm dumping her on you now that she has turned into and an, an… an impossible brat," Chris finished with definiteness.

Lorelai raised her eyebrows with humour.

"Impossible brat hey?" She asked, chuckling.

Chris looked at her, his brown eyes imploring.

"I honestly don't know how else to describe her at the moment Lore," he paused, gathering his thoughts. Lorelai watching him with concern, he looked so defeated. "She is the polar opposite of the bright, happy child you saw last time you were in Boston."

Lorelai nodded, covering one of Chris' hands with one of her own in a supportive gesture.

"We need a plan," she decided.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Lorelai Gilmore waved to Christopher Hayden as he drove around the corner and out of sight three hours later. After their initial meeting at the diner, they had returned to Lorelai's house in order to hash out a plan of what to do with their daughter.

They had decided that she would be moving to Stars Hollow to live with Lorelai. Luckily for them, Lorelai the third and Chris had never visited her in Stars Hollow, so none of the towns folk knew Lorelai the third as Lorelai Hayden. Chris and her had decided that in order to start fresh and change back to the girl they had know, Lorelai the third needed to be know as something different. It wouldn't do her any good to getting back on track if gossip and rumours followed her.

They had decided she would go by the name Rory Gilmore while she was living with Lorelai, a nickname they had called her when she had first been born, before Chris and Rory had moved to Boston. She was going to be enrolled at Chilton Prepatory Academy in Hartford and Lorelai and Rory would attend weekly dinners with both Lorelai's and Chris' parents in Hartford on Friday nights.

Lorelai personally thought that Chris had decided on the last term simply to torture her. She was convinced she was going to have a harder time dealing with Friday night dinners than Rory was, but Chris was insistent that Rory would revert back to her old self quicker if she was around her grandparents on a regular basis.

Remembering this Lorelai walked over the counter on which she kept the phone and walked back to the kitchen table with it. One the pad she and Chris had written on earlier, Lorelai surveyed he list on things to do before Chris brought Rory down Friday afternoon.

_1. Clear out sewing room._

_2. Call Emily and Francine._

_3. Call Chilton and enrol Lorelai under name Rory Gilmore._

_4. PUT FOOD IN FRIDGE._

Lorelai frowned at the last point. She didn't remember writing that there. Turning and opening the fridge door Lorelai found no food, but a sticky note from Chris stuck to one of the shelves at eye level.

"_Lore, throughout the years Rory has become very accustomed to eating – every night – and not just junk (tater tots are not considered nutritional). Make sure you feed her. __Chris."_

Lorelai chuckled at Chris' note. There was no way she was going to start cooked, she was pretty sure Chris didn't want Rory to end up with food poisoning the first week she spent in Stars Hollow. She ate at Luke's Diner most the time anyway, but maybe just for good measure she would buy a couple more boxes of poptarts.

Sitting back down at the kitchen table, Lorelai took a deep breath and started to dial the number for Chilton, mentally reorganising the list so that talking to her mother and Francine Hayden were the last priority.

"Good Afternoon, Chilton Prepatory Academy, how may I help you?" Answered a stern sounding women.

Lorelai faltered for a moment.

"Uh, I'd like the speak to the headmaster please," she replied with caution.

"One moment," came the voice. "Headmaster Charleston will take your call, connecting you now." Lorelai started to thank the lady but she had already put down the phone.

"Headmaster Charleston speaking."

Lorelai took a deep breath and started to explain the situation to the headmaster of Chilton Prepatory Academy.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: So, first chapter of my new story :) This is the first time I've written a story for Gilmore Girls, so I hope it turns out okay!  
Please please please review and tell me whether I should continue with this idea or not! I like it - but I don't know about anyone else...**

**_Nothing Is Ever Simple_ will NOT be forgotten or pushed aside in any way shape or form. I already have the next three chapters written for that story - so the updates will not stop - promise!**

**So... Using the very cool new review button - let me know what you think! (Same as with my other story - those who review get a sneak peek of the next chapter!)**

**Avery xoxo**


	2. Lorelai Leigh Hayden: Party Girl

_**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything...**_

**A/N: I wasn't going to update this story until my exams finished next week, but it seemed like a good way to procrastinate! Thanks to everyone who posted reviews, you have no idea how much it means to me!**

**Just for anyone who wants to know - all info on updates, etc can be found in my livejournal (link on my profile page), plus if anyone asks any questions - like why is Rory's name changing to Rory when she moves to Stars Hollow, etc, they will be answered there as well for anyone to see. Pictures of people's cars, clothes etc. All can be found at my homepage!**

**So, have fun reading and please please please review!!**

**(Oh, and I have changed the rating to M, just to be on the safe side due to a chapter I am writing at the moment. I think it probably could get away with being T, but I thought I'd change it anyway, just in case.)**

* * *

**Chapter Two:**

Christopher Hayden sat on his favourite lounge chair holding a steaming cup of coffee, waiting for his teenage daughter to get home. He glanced at the clock. 4:41pm. He had told her he wanted her home by 4:30pm, but he knew that actually expecting her to walk through the door at that time was probably futile.

A banging noise in the entranceway five minutes later alerted Chris to the fact the Lorelai Leigh Hayden had arrived home from school.

"Lorelai," he called from his chair. "Come into the lounge please, we need to talk."

Lorelai walked into the lounge hesitantly, there was something in her father's voice which made her wary.

"Father," she replied mockingly, after schooling her face into an emotionless mask. Chris sighed. His daughter hadn't always been like this, up until she met her latest group of friends she had been pretty much the perfect child.

Seeing the cup of coffee Chris was holding, Lorelai motioned her hand for him to wait a moment as she headed to the kitchen to grab herself one. Chris didn't object. He wasn't sure how he was going to tell his daughter that he was sending her to live with her mother, so the more time he had to think about it the better as far as he was concerned.

In the kitchen Lorelai the third poured herself a cup of coffee and leant against the counter, her eyes closed. She had a fairly good idea of what her father wanted to talk to her about, she had overheard snippets of his phone conversation with her mother at the beginning of the week. She had called his office on her lunch break that day, to confirm her suspicions, only to be informed by his secretary that Christopher Hayden hadn't come into the office that day, and had instead pushed all his meetings to the following day.

That was really all Lorelai needed to know to be fairly certain Chris' subtle threats from the previous three months were about to come to fruition. Chris never took the day off work, so the fact that he had today – and that he had pushed all his meetings – meant he had most probably gone to Stars Hollow to see her mother after reading this morning's paper. Mike had shown her a copy as soon as she had gotten into his car that morning.

"_**Lorelai Hayden: The Hayden Heiress Caught Out And About Again"**_.

Lorelai grimaced as she remembered the picture that had been displayed, not her finest hour, but something that had become increasingly common over the last three months.

Truth be told Lorelai the third wasn't overly convinced it was a completely bad idea, sending her to Stars Hollow. Sure, she didn't want to leave Boston, and she definitely didn't want to go and live in that small town her mother lived in, but still. She shuddered at the thought, small towns were really not her cup of tea. Of cup of coffee in her case.

She knew deep down her life had spun out of control as of late. Not that she was willing to admit that out loud. Ever since three of her best friends had left Boston and she'd started hanging out with a new crowd. Lorelai wasn't sure whether Chris had connected the change in her behaviour with the departure of three of her best friends, but she knew he'd connected it with her new friends.

She thought back to when they had told her they were leaving.

_**Flashback  
**_"_You're leaving," Lorelai had stated in shock._

"_For the rest of high school?" Steph had asked, trying to grasp the full extent of what was happening. _

_The boys sitting in front of them just nodded, watching the looks on the girls faces carefully. The five of them had been friends since they had met when the girls had been in the 6__th__ grade and the boys in the 7__th__ grade. Lorelai Hayden, Stephanie Vanderbilt, Logan Huntzberger, Finn Rothschild and Colin McCrae. However, now the boys parents had decided that boarding school in Zugerberg would be a much better idea for the last 3 years of their schooling._

"_When?" asked Lorelai in a voice void of emotion. Logan look at her, a shocked look on his face. He had never heard her talk with such a flat voice. He shot a look of concern to Finn and Colin._

"_Ace," he started, using his nickname for her, before she interrupted him._

"_Lorelai," she stated harshly. "And when."_

_Logan tried to cover the hurt look that flashed across his face, he barely ever called Lorelai by her real name. He sent a alarmed look at Steph, who just shrugged her shoulders._

"_Tomorrow is our last day," he whispered quietly._

"_Tomorrow?" Asked Lorelai incredulously. "Tomorrow is your LAST day?"_

"_When did you find out?" Asked Steph._

"_End of last week love," replied Finn, "we didn't know how to tell you."_

"_End of last week?" Confirmed Lorelai in a dangerously quiet voice. "You've known since the end of last week and you only just thought to tell us now?"_

_Colin opened his mouth to reply to her questions but was interrupted by someone approaching their table. The three boys glared at the newcomer, Mike Bergdorf. No one ever just came up to their table, and it was well known that the Logan, Finn and Colin did not get along well with Mike or any of his friends._

"_So, Huntz," said Mike, shooting a smile at Lorelai and Steph. "I hear the three of you are leaving us for some boarding school in Europe._

"_None of your business Mike," replied Colin, his teeth gritted together._

"_Actually," started Mike, "I thought I'd just ask these lovely ladies here if they wanted to attend a party a mate of mine is holding tomorrow night. I would invite you as well, but looks like you're going to be too busy packing your bags."_

_Logan turned red and looked as though steam was going to come out of his ears at any moment._

"_No, Mike," he said in an angry voice, "the girls here do not…"_

"_Actually," interrupted Lorelai, "I'd love to come Mike." As she said this she shot Mike a smile. If the boys were leaving, and hadn't thought to tell her and Steph until now then she could do whatever she pleased. _

_The other four people sitting at the table looked at Lorelai in astonishment. Mike and his friends were known for through parties that more often than not got out of control, and there were always drugs present. Out of all of them, Lorelai was always the most responsible. They didn't think she would ever have considered going to one of those parties._

"_Ace," spluttered Logan, unable to continue._

"_Lore," started Colin when he saw that Logan was unable to form an articulate sentence._

_Lorelai silenced them both with her hand._

"_Once again boys, my name is Lorelai. And if I want to attend this party, then I will attend this party. It's not like your going to be around anymore anyway."_

_With that, Lorelai got up from the table and turned to Mike, smiling as she held out her hand for his cell phone. When he handed it to her, she programmed in her number and whispered to him, in a voice loud enough for the rest of them to hear, "Message me the details and I'll see you there."_

_Winking at Mike, Lorelai left the cafeteria. Leering at the three boys sitting in shock at the table, Mike turned and walked back to his friends.  
__**End Flashback**_

Lorelai sighed. She wouldn't have considered going to the party had Mike not came over at that exact moment. But he had, and she had been feeling so hurt and betrayed, she felt the need to do something back to the boys that would hurt them as much as they had hurt her.

Steph had found her that afternoon and asked her if she was really going to the party. Not wanting the boys to know that she hadn't really been planning to go, Lorelai had told Steph that she was, and everything had gone downhill from there. She had attended the party, and had then proceeded to drink until she was able forget that three of her best friends were leaving her. The next morning was the first of many to come where she had woken up in some random guys bed, not knowing how she had gotten there.

It wasn't as though she had been a complete angel before the boys had left. She liked to go out to clubs and to parties, and she could even occasionally keep up with Finn drinks wise if she really wanted to, but over the last three or so months things had gotten out of control.

She would never admit that to anyone if they asked, especially not Steph or the guys. She hadn't really spoken to Steph since that day, the only contact they had these days were the occasional glance in the hallways. Every time their eyes met Lorelai could see something in Steph's eyes, a type of sadness, or regret, with a hint of sympathy. She tried to block the image from her mind, hating herself for being the one to put that look on her best friend's face.

Lorelai Hayden sighed again, taking a sip of her coffee and walking back into the lounge room to face whatever her father was about to throw at her.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"Sookie," moaned a frazzled Lorelai Gilmore. "I don't know what to do. Am I crazy to do this?"

"Of course not hon," replied Sookie as she stood at the stove, stirring a pot of spaghetti sauce. Sookie had taken it upon herself to come over to Lorelai's house and cook a whole range of meals that could be kept in the fridge and eaten over the first week that Rory moved in. "You're just nervous, and you have every right to be."

"But what if I'm an awful mother Sookie? What is I can't raise her properly. Oh my God, Sookie, what if I forget her one day."

"Forget her how?"

"Any way. There are so many ways I could forget her. I could forget to get her to school, forget to feed her, I could just completely forget that she is here. My God I am going to be an awful mother."

"Lorelai, calm down. You are not going to be an awful mother. You are a good mother, you already know Rory, remember? You two have always gotten along fine. Plus, Rory is 16. It's highly doubtful that you will be able to forget about her – she isn't a newborn that needs your constant attention. You will be fine. You just have to believe that."

"Sookie, the only mother role model I ever had was Emily. I don't want to be like Emily. Chris has done such a great job raising her all these years, what if she comes here and I screw her up? What if I can't match what Chris has done in the past?"

Lorelai closed her eyes and took a breath. There. She felt slightly better. She had voiced her biggest fear at the moment. She had always gotten along with her daughter, but they didn't have the bond her daughter shared with Chris. What if living together ruined everything? What if after the stellar job Chris had done over the precedent 16 years was something she could never equal?

"Well, from what you have told me, and from what Chris has told you, I don't think you have to worry about screwing her up. She doesn't sound as though she is doing so well at the moment, so you can only go up right?"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," replied Lorelai glumly.

Sookie laughed from her position at the stove. Lorelai glared at her.

"What about my current situation are you finding even remotely funny?" She demanded.

"Lorelai," answered Sookie, "you're always so confident. You can pretty much handle everything. Yet the news that your daughter, who by the way you do actually get along with, is coming to stay with you has sent you through a loop."

"Can I do this Sookie?"

"Have you enrolled her at Chilton?" Sookie asked.

"Yeah," replied Lorelai.

Sookie nodded and put down one of the three fingers she was holding up.

"Have you started to clear out the sewing room/Rory's new room?"

Lorelai nodded as an answer to Sookie's question. Sookie lowered another finger so that only one was still raised.

"What about Emily and Francine?"

Lorelai stuck out her tongue and made a face reminiscent of an awful taste in her mouth. Sookie raised one eyebrow and turned to face her friend, her arms akimbo.

"Lorelai," she started in a semi-stern, yet completely serious voice. "You need to call your mother, and then you need to call Chris' mother."

"Do I have to?" Lorelai whined in a child-like voice.

"Lorelai, you're so worried about whether or not Rory is going to feel at home here, and how well she is going to adjust – yet you are putting off doing the very thing that you and Chris decided would really help her transition."

"I know," replied Lorelai in a defeated and reluctant voice. "Rory has a much better relationship with both sets of her grandparent's than I have with either mine or Chris' parents. But it means that I have to see them every week as well."

"She's close with them isn't she?" Enquired Sookie.

Lorelai nodded before answering.

"Yeah, she is," she started quietly. "She's closer to the Hayden's than she is my parents, they'd visit in Boston more often, and Chris and Rory rarely came to Hartford. But Sookie, Rory's part of the entire scene I left behind. And she enjoys it. She likes being the Hayden heiress, and all the perks that come with that lifestyle. You should see her cars. She has one in Boston and one at the Hayden's in Hartford, and neither one is cheap. That's one of the main reasons I'm kinda concerned about how well we will live together. I know Chris didn't bring her up completely like that, but she is still more a part of society that I would have liked."

"Maybe that's part of the problem. It will probably be good for her to get away from it all, have a fresh start, even if it does end up being only temporary."

"I suppose," replied Lorelai, unsure.

"But you have to make sure not to judge her as well if you want this to really work."

"But I wo…" started Lorelai before Sookie interrupted her.

"Lorelai. You have very strong opinions about society. Rory is a part of that society, whether you like it or not. And she may well even like it. If one of the first impressions she gets when she arrives is that you're judging her for her involvement in that world, well…" Sookie tapered off at the end, letting Lorelai draw her own conclusions.

After a moment's silence, Sookie looked away from her sauce to Lorelai again. She was sitting, slightly hunched over in her chair, with a mulish expression on her face. Sookie knew Lorelai had accepted what she had said as the truth, and was fairly sure Lorelai had already realised that deep down anyway, and just hadn't been overly willing to vocalise it.

"Lorelai," said Sookie hesitantly. She knew she had to say what she was about to say next, she just didn't think Lorelai would be overly accepting of the idea. "If your parents or Chris' parent invite her to society events: parties, dinners, etc, you know you have to let her attend, right?"

"Sookie," complained Lorelai, sticking out her bottom lip like a petulant child. "If my mother or Francine invite Rory somewhere and, God's willing, she accepts, you know they are going to expect me to show up as well. I don't wanna go to society events."

Sookie sent a pointed look in Lorelai's direction. Lorelai sighed.

"I know, I know. We're taking her out of Boston, away from her friends. If she wants to participate in the Hartford society set, _occasionally_," Lorelai stressed the last word, "then I know I have to let her. I just didn't think any daughter of mine would want to be a part of that world."

Sookie smiled a small, knowing smile at Lorelai. The coming few weeks were going to interesting enough, that was for sure. She wondered vaguely whether Rory would like living here with Lorelai. Only time would tell.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"Dad," acknowledged Lorelai the third as she re-entered the lounge room. Lorelai walked over to the couch opposite Chris and sat down, attempting to make as little eye contact as possible. She knew the past three months had to have been hard for her dad, they had been so close, and he would be taking the change in her personally, and blaming himself.

"Lori," started Chris hesitantly, unsure of how to continue. He thought that maybe using the nickname he had had for her since she was three would help soften the blow. Either that or it would backfire on him.

Anger swelled inside Lorelai Hayden. The acceptance she had been experiencing in the kitchen had disappeared, everything she had managed to admit to herself about the dangers and stupidity of her current lifestyle now seemed trivial, especially now that she was sitting face to face with her father. The father that was about to pack her up and send her off to her mother.

"What is it _father_?" she sneered, stressing the last word, knowing the formality would get to Chris. It worked, she thought victoriously as she watched Chris flinch. She raised her eyebrows and continued in a low, calm voice that anyone who knew Lorelai Hayden would know meant trouble. "Called me in here to tell me you're shipping me off to that country hick town and the mother who abandoned us 15 years ago?"

Lorelai Hayden leant back in the chair she was sitting on and made sure she kept eye contact with Chris the entire time she spoke. She knew it would unnerve him, especially considering technically she wasn't suppose to know 'the plan'. Chris' eyes widened and he gaped at what his daughter had just said. How did she…? Chris shook his head, he'd never been able to get much past his daughter without her knowledge. She was too inquisitive.

"Lorelai," he started again, his eyes pleading. "I want you to know I'm not doing this to get rid of you." Chris paused, waiting to see if Lorelai would respond. When she continued to sit there and stare at him, one eyebrow cocked with an expression on her face that signified she did not believe him he continued. "I would like nothing more than for you to stay here, I love having you here kiddo."

"Do not call me kiddo," seethed Lorelai in a dangerously quiet voice. Chris sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought.

"Lorelai," he said again, the pleading previously in his eyes now present also in his voice. "I just think you need some time. Some time away from Boston, just to reconnect with yourself."

"Reconnect?" Scoffed Lorelai, unbelieving. He was making it sound like she was being sent on a weekend retreat, not banished to a small town where everybody knew everybody else's business.

Chris closed his eyes. This was getting nowhere. He steeled himself for what he was about to say to his only child.

"Lorelai Leigh Hayden. You WILL be going to Stars Hollow. You WILL be living with your mother, at least until you snap out of this new attitude of yours, and you WILL be turning your life around. I barely recognise the person that you've turned into and I don't like it. Now you may not like it now, and you may not like it while you are there. But someday, however far that day is in the distant future, I can assure you, you _will_ appreciate what your mother and I are doing for you."

Lorelai looked at he father, her mouth open, and a disbelieving look on her face, disguising the hurt she was feeling. She knew she had changed. She knew this, but Chris had never spoken to her that way. He had never demanded she do anything. They had always had a democracy, and while she hadn't expected to get a say in this decision, she hadn't been expecting Chris to speak to her in that manner. He had just spoken to her the way Logan, Finn, Colin and Steph's parents spoke to them. He had just spoken to her like a society parent.

She changed the disbelieving look covering her face with a glared, keeping her jaw locked together stubbornly. Standing from her place on the couch, she narrowed her eyes even further at her father. If he could act like a society parent towards her, then she would return the favour by acting like a society child.

"If you could please excuse me, _father,_" she replied in a cold voice, "I am going to my bedroom now." With that Lorelai turned and walked out of the room towards the stairs which would lead her to her bedroom. She heard Chris call out after her.

"You might want to pack Lorelai. We are driving down to your mother's house tomorrow afternoon whether you are packed and ready or not. So anything you want to take with you had better be packed by 3pm because we leave then regardless of whether you want to or not."

Lorelai narrowed her eyes after hearing her father's reply. How dare he talk to her like that. He hadn't been an angel while he was growing up, she'd heard many stories from Grandma Francine about the things her father had done.

Pulling her phone out of her pocket Lorelai sent a quick text message before walking into her closet to chose an outfit. If this was going to be her last night in Boston, then by God, she was going to make the most of it.

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Surveying her outfit chose, Lorelai smiled with satisfaction. Her hair, which she had dyed platinum blonde two and a half months ago, hung in loose curls down her back. She had a pair of black mini shorts and a white top which was fitted around her waist and had sequins and diamantes sewed in a random pattern around the low cut v-neck of the top, then extending around her body to the back of the top. The straps were joined together at the back by a diamond broach she had found in a vintage store once when she had visited New York with Steph.

Her make-up was heavy and dark, thick black eyeliner accentuating her bright blue eyes. Finally, she grabbed a pair of silver high heeled sandals with straps that ended half way up her calf from her closet and pulled them on, making sure to tie the straps tight.

Glancing out her window, she saw Mike waiting below in his red Maserati GranTurismo S. Waving to him from her bedroom, Lorelai spun around and grabbed her clutch from her dresser. Making sure she had money, her phone and other essentials, Lorelai took one last look in the mirror, and satisfied, slide open her bedroom window and stepped out into the fire escape.

She quickly climbed down the fire escape and walked over to Mike's car. He leant over from the driver's side and flicked the passenger door open for her.

"Hop in babe," he said when she got to the door. She smiled seductively at him in response. Looking back to her bedroom one last time before she got in the car, Lorelai paused as she saw Chris standing at her open window, staring down at her. Their eyes met for a moment, then Lorelai turned away, not bothering to acknowledge Chris at all and smiled again at Mike.

"So," she started in a flirtatious voice. "Where are we off to tonight?"

Mike just laughed in response as he gunned the V8 engine and sped off.

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**A/N: Picture of Mike's car and Lorelai Hayden's party outfit can be found in my homepage**

**Sneak peek of the next chapter to all those who review - and there just may be some Trory action, but it won't be what anyone expects!! Thats all I'm going to say for now... if you want to know more - click the little review button! Tristan will feature in the sneak peek!!**


	3. Tristan Dugrey, nice to meet you

**A/N: So sorry that this chapter took so long everyone, life has just been a little insane lately!!**

**So enjoy, and pretty please review!**

**Chapter Three:**

Lorelai Leigh Hayden opened her eyes slowly, cursing the alcohol she had consumed the night before. She groaned softly, trying to ignore the ever present thumping in her head. Opening her eyes slightly more as they slowly adjusted to the light, she sat up, trying to figure out if she knew where she was.

She decided she didn't know where she was, but bits and pieces of the night were coming back to her. Mike picking her up in his Maserati GranTurismo S, a variety of different drugs from the party which she was fairly certain she had stayed away from last night, a massive amount of alcohol which she knew for a fact she did not stay away from. And a guy. Blonde, hot, very cocky.

Frowning slightly, she looked to her side. Closing her eyes for a moment, Lorelai looked back at the naked body lying next to her. Did she know who this was? All of a sudden he stirred, rolling over towards her and pulled her back down towards him.

"Sleep," he mumbled drowsily. Lorelai chuckled.

"Bit tired there are we," she whispered seductively in his ear. A smirk grew across his face. "Well," she started again, feigning disinterest, "if your too tired, I may as well just go home."

Lorelai smiled to herself and waited for the boys reaction. It didn't take long.

"Never too tired," he replied cockily, as he flipped her over so she was lying underneath him. She gasped as he opened his eyes and stared down at her. He had stunningly bright sapphire coloured eyes. Lorelai smirked back at him as she saw his smirk widen after hearing her gasp.

"Like what you see?" He asked her.

"Always," she replied, not breaking eye contact. "Lorelai Hayden." She thought she'd best introduce herself. After all, odds are he had no idea of her name considering she had no idea of his.

"Tristan Dugrey," he replied confidently before swooping down to kiss her.

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Sighing as she got out of the cab, Lorelai Hayden glanced at her watch, knowing Chris was not going to be happy. 8:21am. There was no way she was going to make it to first period.

Lorelai walked into the apartment building, nodding her head to the doorman on her way to the elevator. Hitting the penthouse button, she unbuttoned the back pocket of her shorts, removing the spare key she had put their the previous night.

The elevator pinged, signalling it had reached it's destination. Lorelai took a deep breath and stepped out towards her front door. Schooling her face into a blank look, she walked into the entranceway, making sure to make noise. She wanted Chris to know she was only just getting home. She most definitely did not want him to think she was trying to sneak back in.

"Lorelai," said Chris, frowning, as he walked to meet her in the entranceway. Lorelai just stood there and raised her eyebrows, waiting for her father to continue. "Where have you been all night young lady?"

"Out," she replied shortly.

"You're late for school."

"Thought I'd stay home today. You know, pack and stuff. Since I'm being sent away and all, _Daddy_" she replied.

"No," said Chris strongly. "You are going to school today. It's your last day."

Lorelai considered this. It was her last day in Boston. She did want to see her friends before she left.

"Lunchtime then," she replied after a moments thought. "After all, if you want to leave at 3pm, I can't stay at school all day."

Chris nodded.

"I'll write you a note to leave at lunch. Go and get yourself cleaned up and ready for school, and do it quickly. If you want to leave at lunch, you have to at least make it on time for your second class."

Lorelai mock saluted Chris and walked off lazily to her bedroom. There was no way she was going to rush in order to get to school.

Chris watched his daughter walk up the stairs. He hadn't wanted to cave into the leaving school early idea, but her did want to leave Boston by 3pm, and he knew she hadn't started packing. Even though it was her fault that she wasn't ready to leave, he knew if she hadn't had time to pack, they wouldn't be leaving.

It was getting worse. He thought back to the previous night, how his daughter had just looked up to him watching her from the window, and then gotten into the waiting car without so much as a single moments hesitation. Taking a long sip of the coffee he had left on the counter, he hoped reverently that his daughter would settle down a bit living in a country town with her mother.

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Lorelai Hayden looked around the cafeteria as she walked in, her eyes searching for her friends. Spotting Mike at a table on the far side, she started to make her way over.

"Hey Lori," called a few of her friends as she got closer to the table. She smiled and waved back at them, balancing her lunch tray in one hand.

"So, how'd your last morning in Boston go?" Asked Austin, another of Mike's friends. Lorelai made a face as she looked back at him.

"School is school Austin. I can't actually believe I'm being banished to such a hick town. I mean seriously, what kind of a name is Stars Hollow?" She asked while toying with an apple.

"Sucks for you girlie," replied Cooper with a chuckle. "Funny for me though."

"Do you want this apple thrown at your head Coop?" Asked Lorelai in a fake threatening voice.

"No matter how hard you try to be threatening Lori, it just doesn't take," laughed another girl who had just arrived at the table.

"I try Brooke. I try, I try, I fail, I fail," laughed Lorelai in response.

"So," started Brooke slyly. "Austin's cousin hey?" Lorelai felt Brooke kick her underneath the table as she spoke. Lorelai kept a bored look on her face as she addressed Austin.

"Tristan's your cousin is he?"

"Well Lori, I am impressed," answered Mike, hitting her gently on the shoulder. "You actually remembered his name did you?"

"Of course not darling," she drawled in a fake southern accent. Dropping the accent she continued. "We reintroduced ourselves this morning." Cooper snickered and Lorelai felt Brooke kick her leg underneath the table again while sending her a knowing smile.

"I'm gonna get a bruise soon if you don't stop B," she said in a bored tone. "Austin?"

"Yeah Lori, Tris is my cousin," replied Austin, a laughing glint in his eyes. "Will you be attending Chilton in Hartford then?"

Lorelai hesitated before she answered. She knew her mother had enrolled her as Rory Gilmore, as oppose to Lorelai Hayden, in some weird attempt to give her a chance at a 'fresh start', as her parents were so flippantly putting it. Not wanting to limit her options this early or anger either of her parent's anymore than she already had – she did want to be able to return to Boston at some stage – Lorelai gave the vaguest answer she could.

"Stars Hollow has a local high, I'll probably just attend there. I don't know how long I'm going to be there. Plus my mother hates Hartford apparently. The entire society set." Lorelai rolled her eyes for dramatic effect. "That's going to help us get along."

Brooke laughed as the bell rang.

"Farewell all my wonderful friends," said Lorelai dramatically in response to the bell. "Give me a call if your ever in Hartford and wanna party!"

"We don't go to Hartford very often Lori, but if we every do the first thing we will do is call you. I got Smith for English next so I gotta run," replied Austin as he kissed the top of her head before heading out of the cafeteria.

"Austin's right," added Brooke as she started to stand up, "We try to avoid Hartford when possible, but we promise to call if we ever come that way."

Brooke gave Lorelai a hug and pulled Cooper from his sitting position. Mike smirked at Lorelai and leant over, kissing her full on the lips.

"Gonna miss you babe," he said with a smirk on his face. "this place's gonna be a lot less fun without you 'round." Looking back at him with a smirk she had perfected, Lorelai swatted him gently on the shoulder.

"Get to class Mike," she replied playfully.

As Mike walked away, Lorelai rested her head in her hands for a moment, contemplating the fact that this could well be the last time she ever sits in this cafeteria. Hearing a slight cough behind her Lorelai straightened up and slid around on the wooden bench.

"Steph," she said in a wary voice. One thing she really didn't feel like at the moment was a guilt trip.

"I hear you're going to your Mom's house in Connecticut," said Steph shortly. Lorelai just nodded, knowing that if Steph wanted something, she wouldn't leave until she got it.

"Good," she replied. Lorelai raised her eyebrows at the girl who use to be her best friend. She knew Steph would think it was a good idea, but she didn't think she would have to guts to come straight up to her and tell her that. "You need to get away from here, from those people." A look of disdain covered Steph's face as she mentioned Lorelai's new friends.

"Those _people_," hissed Lorelai as she stood up to face Steph, "never left me, those _people,_ care enough to want to spend time with me. Those _people_, would never wait an entire week to tell me they were leaving." Lorelai paused and gauged Steph's reaction. Shaking her head slightly, Lorelai said one last thing to Steph before getting up and walking out of the cafeteria. "Those _people_, have kept me going these past three months."

Steph watched Lorelai Hayden walk out of the cafeteria, unable to think of anything to say in rebuttal to her friend's last four comments.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Lorelai Hayden walked back into the apartment building that she called home for possibly the last time in the foreseeable future. Ignoring her father's greeting she ran up the stairs, taking them two by two.

Walking into her bedroom, Lorelai flopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. It was 1pm. She had two hours until they left. Sighing, she pulled herself upright and walked over to her walk-in wardrobe to pull down her Louis Vuitton luggage.

After successfully managing to get down three trunks

Lorelai Leigh Hayden glanced at the alarm clock sitting by her bed. 2:55pm. 5 minutes. She had five minutes left in the room that had been her safe haven for so many year. Five more minutes.

"Lori," called Chris from the bottom of the stairs. "You ready?"

Glaring at the sound of her father's voice, Lorelai the third picked up the last remaining suitcase still upstairs and walked to the door. With one last glance across the room; she turned off the light and walked to the stairs.

"Father," she said loftily as she started to descend the stairs.

"Drop the snob act Lorelai," replied Christopher flatly.

"I have not idea what you could possible be talking about," said Lorelai, raising her eyebrows slightly and pasting a fake smile across her face as she passed Chris.

Chris sighed. He and his daughter hadn't spoken since their talk in the lounge the previous afternoon. Lorelai the third had gone straight to school this morning, and disappeared immediately into her bedroom when she had gotten home from school at mid-day. For the last three hours she had been in her room, blaring music.

Walking down to meet his daughter at the door Chris closed his eyes and asked God to give him strength. Lorelai Leigh Hayden the third stood in the entrance way of their Boston apartment.

She was standing there, tapping one foot somewhat impatiently, with a look on her face that could only be described as snobbish. She was wearing the latest Gucci sunglasses, and Chris couldn't help but think, God help them all, that she looked exactly like the rest of the trust fund babies in high society.

Chris didn't regret bringing up his daughter in high society – he had done so because he knew that she would have to end up in that world at one stage in her life. It was a sore point with Lorelai the second, she had been so against her daughter having anything to do with society, but Chris knew with her grandparents begin who they were, keeping his daughter completely out of society would be next to impossible.

So instead he had voluntarily participated somewhat in society with Lorelai the third, enough that neither set of grandparent could complain, but not so much that she became just another trust fund baby, pulling elaborate pranks and spending huge sums of money without a second thought, all while waiting to take over the family business.

Until now. Now his perfect daughter, his beautiful, smart baby girl was standing in front of him, and he barely recognised her. And it hurt. He wondered in the back of his mind when they had grown so far apart. And how he hadn't noticed it at first.

"Lets go," said Chris in a biting tone. He didn't mean to speak to her like that, but he couldn't help it when he saw her acting that way – it hurt. Chris bent down to pick up the larger of the two bags situated at his teenage daughter's feet.

With a haughty glance in her father's direction, Lorelai Leigh Hayden picked up the other bag that was left on the ground, and holding her head high, turned and walked out of the penthouse apartment she had called home for so long.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Lorelai Victoria Gilmore sent one last sweeping glance over the room that had once been her sewing room. Now, instead of holding reams of fabric and a sewing machine, there was a desk, two bookshelves, a chest of drawers with a mirror attached at the top and a bed.

Lorelai looked at the bed, wondering if she had done the right thing. She had spent yesterday afternoon in Hartford with Sookie, shopping for furniture for Rory's room. They had spent a good two hours in the bed store, debating over what type of bed to get Rory. She had a queen sized bed in Boston in her apartment with Chris, but did Lorelai really want to get her a bed with enough space for two people? Especially considering that was half the reason she was coming to live with her in the first place.

But could she get Rory a single bed? After all, she wanted her daughter to feel as at home as she could, and downgrading her to a single bed would probably not set them off on the right foot. Lorelai was smart enough to know that Rory probably wasn't going to be impressed about moving to Stars Hollow, regardless of what type of bed she ended up with.

In the end they had gone with the queen sized bed. After all, odds are Rory wouldn't bring boys back to Lorelai's house, Chris said she never had in Boston – instead she just didn't come home herself sometimes. If Rory was going to have sex, odds are she would do it regardless of whether or not Lorelai bought her a single bed.

Lorelai frowned at the thought of her 16 year old daughter having sex. Sure, she had gotten pregnant at 16, but she had been sleeping with Chris, and ONLY Chris. From the way the papers made it sound, and the way Chris himself had explained things to her, Rory was spending every night she went out with a different guy, especially those where she didn't end up at home. Which Chris said was way more frequent than he would have liked.

Lorelai jumped slightly at the sound of her telephone ringing. Wandering out into the lounge room, she started to search for the telephone. She finally found it, but just as she was about to answer the call the answering machine picked up.

"Drat," she mumbled at the phone and started toward the answering machine to stop it so she could actually answer the phone. She smiled as she heard the familiar message play itself. "_I'm tired, the phone is far, make is short."_

"Lorelai Gilmore that is not an appropriate message to have on your answering machine," reprimanded the controlling voice of Emily Gilmore. Lorelai, whose hand had almost been about to hit the stop button, pulled her hand back as though it was on fire. There was no way she actually wanted to speak to her mother today.

"Leaving a message on a person's answering machine is not an appropriate what to inform someone that their granddaughter, whom they barely ever get to see, if coming to live with you. I've invited Straub and Francine over for dinner on Friday, and I expect you and Rory to be there also. Francine informs me that weekly dinners were suggested by you, not her, although why she got a phone call and I got a message I have no idea. Call me back Lorelai."

"Meh meh meh," Lorelai muttered incoherently towards the offending machine that held Emily Gilmore's voice. "Evil little piece of technology, don't know why I even have you." Glaring at the machine Lorelai walked back over to her daughter's bedroom.

Sitting on the bed Lorelai looked at her hands and wondered for the umpteenth time whether she was going to be able to handle Rory. Raising her head as she heard the sounds of two car engines Lorelai lifted herself from the bed and started toward the front door. She knew Chris and Rory were driving down in separate cars – Rory refused to not bring her car down to Stars Hollow with her, and much to Lorelai's dismay, Chris has agreed.

Opening the front door to great the two newcomers, Lorelai couldn't help but let out a quiet whistle of appreciation. She knew Chris had a nice car, she ha seen it when he came to Stars Hollow earlier in the week, and when she had been to Boston. But she had never seen Rory's car.

Pulled up behind Chris's black Jaguar was a metallic baby blue Ferrari California GT. Lorelai knew the car, after all, it was a very nice car. V8 engine, 2+2 with a folding metal roof. Ferrari had only recently released the car, and it had a price tag that matched it's looks. Seeing her daughter looking so comfortable behind the wheel of that car was all the confirmation Lorelai needed to know that Lorelai 'Rory' Leigh Hayden was indeed a part of society.

"Lorelai," called Chris as a greeting once he stepped out of his car.

"Hi Chris," she called in return. "Hi Rory," called to her daughter as she too stepped out of her car.

Rory glanced from her mother to her father, and cringed at the nickname. She had known the odds were quite high that her childhood nickname was going to be used a lot while she was living with her mother, but it didn't mean she had to accept it easily. Truth be told she didn't really mind, but she wasn't about to start making life easier for anyone.

She walked towards the porch, glancing haughtily at Lorelai as she gracefully passed her. Once she was standing at the front door, she stopped and turned back, so as to face both of her parents. Lorelai was standing on the edge of the porch, a shocked expression on her face. Chris was standing halfway between Lorelai and his car, just looking tired and worn out.

"It's Lorelai," she replied in a lofty tone, and turned back to the house. "My room?" she asked briefly.

Lorelai shook her head, hoping to shake herself out of her stupor. It was going to be a long day.

"To your right, past the kitchen and it's the door on your right again," she replied, still in shock at the way her only daughter was acting.

She felt Chris walk up the porch stairs behind her and place a hand reassuringly on her shoulder.

"We're in this together," he whispered, so quietly that Lorelai wasn't sure she had heard him at all.

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**A/N: Pictures of Rory and Chris' cars will be on my webpage soon. I'm hoping to continue with at least weekly updates, but my life is crazy at the moment, I am working a lot over the summer. Anyway, I'm going to aim for weekly updates, so we will see how it goes! (I also just moved away from constant internet access, so I'm going to have to somehow get around that slight problem!!)**

**Remember – all those who review get a sneak peek of the next chapter… and doesn't everyone just want to know what is happening with Tristan!! (Plus, the more people who review…the quicker I update!) **


	4. Lorelai Hayden: Welcome to Stars Hollow

**_DISCLAIMER: I own nothing..._**

**A/N: Here is the next chapter, and I am sorry that it took so long! Enjoy...**

**Chapter Four:**

Chris stood awkwardly in the lounge room of Lorelai's Stars Hollow house. Rory was yet to say a word that wasn't dripping with disdain, and Chris was starting to wonder whether he was asking Lorelai just a little too much by expecting her to care for Rory while she was acting the way she was.

After all, he had had her for 16 good years, and now that things were starting to get a bit rough, he was sending her off to her mother. He glanced at Lorelai Gilmore, and sensing the pleading look in her eyes, decided it was time for someone to say something.

"So," he started, unsure of what exactly he was going to say. All he had thought of was breaking the awkward silence that was engulfing the small family.

"Luke's," exclaimed Lorelai suddenly, a twinkle forming in her eye. If anything could fix a situation like this is was coffee and food.

Lorelai Hayden looked at her as though she was completely mad. Chris had to stifle a laugh at the antics of Lorelai Gilmore. Nothing could keep her from her coffee. Luckily their daughter shared the same addiction, at least there was the possibility of something they could bond over.

"Sounds good Lore," replied Chris, the only thought in his mind to get away from the toxic atmosphere that had formed. Turning his attention to the younger Lorelai he spoke again. "How does that sound kiddo?"

Lorelai the third considered what had transpired in front of her, and decided that for the time being it would be easier to go along with that was suggested.

"Sure," she replied, keeping a determined straight face, even at the look of shock that crossed both her parent's faces. They had obviously expected her to kick up more of a fuss than she did.

"Can I meet you there?" She asked, somewhat innocently. What the hell, she thought flippantly, may as well play it for all it's worth, right? "I just want to get settled a little first, you know. Unpack the main couple of things."

Chris glanced from Lorelai to their daughter, attempting, somewhat in vain, to keep the look of suspicion off his face. It was the elder Lorelai who finally answered the younger one.

"Sure, do you know how to get there?" She asked. "You should have driven past it on your way here, there's a hardware sign out front, but it is actually a diner." She chuckled at the thought of the words she had just spoken.

Lorelai the third shook her head with amazingly little astonishment. Only Stars Hollow could get away with having a hardware sign outside the town's diner.

"Yeah, I remember," she replied shortly in answer to her mother's question. Lorelai the second nodded awkwardly and after a few moments of silence, headed to the front door, along with Chris, leaving Lorelai Hayden to get herself acquainted with the place where should would be residing for the next undetermined amount of time.

She walked towards the room her mother had previously directed her too. Standing at the doorway, Lorelai Hayden once again surveyed the room that had been converted for her use. After a moment, she walked into the room in order to make a closer inspection. She had to admit, her mother did get extra points for the queen sized bed. That had been one thing she was definitely not expecting to get in Stars Hollow, especially because of the reason she was here.

Sitting on her new bed, Lorelai rifled through her handbag, searching for the packet of cigarettes she knew she had stuffed into the bottom of the bag earlier. It was definitely time for a cigarette.

As she was about to light up, Lorelai pursed her lips, considering the cigarette in her hand and her current location. After a moment's deliberation she moved to the one window in the room and pushed it open, half leaning her upper torso out of the room as she lit the cigarette and took a long puff.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Chris glanced at Lorelai Gilmore, wondering where to start in explaining to her the events which had taken place since they had last spoken. Considering how short a time space it had been; one would think there wouldn't have been all that much to tell. Unfortunately that wasn't quite the case. He sighed.

"Lore," he started, attempting to delay the inevitable of relaying the story. "I don't know what to say any more, you know."

Lorelai looked at her high school sweetheart and the father of her child. She wanted to say something supportive. Anything. But she couldn't. Nothing would come out.

"She left last night again. Climbed down the fire escape outside her bedroom window and jumped into some awaiting car," he paused momentarily before continuing. "The worst part is, that she saw me. I went into her bedroom to speak to her after I told her about moving here, and the window was open. When I walked over to the window I saw her about to jump into the car – and she just looked up at me for a few seconds, then got into the car and drove off, as if she didn't even care that I had just caught her."

Lorelai closed her eyes and rested her head in her hands on the table they were sitting at in Luke's diner.

"Coffee," said a voice gruffly from over Lorelai's shoulder. Lorelai looked up at Luke and nodded her thanks before he turned and walked away.

"Nice guy," muttered Chris sarcastically. Lorelai laughed in response. Luke's general demeanour took a little while to get use to.

"So," started Lorelai, wanting to get back to talking about their daughter. "I'd really love you to tell me right now that she returned after about half an hour, happy and laughing because she just went and got ice-cream with a friend."

Chris raised his eyebrows and Lorelai's naïve hopefulness. Her face dropped, she knew exactly what Chris was about to tell her, but it never hurt to hope, right?

"Unfortunately, no," replied Chris in a monotone voice. "Around 8:30am the next morning, she returned. Not even bothering to sneak back in. She just waltzed through the front door as though she was coming home from school, looking completely dishevelled."

Lorelai took a sharp, deep breathe. Their daughter was truly out of control.

"Well, I have enrolled her at Chilton, so in the very least, my mother with be happy." Lorelai grimaced as she spoke of her mother. "She is enrolled under the name Rory Gilmore, so, assuming we can convince her to go along with the plan, she will be able to have a fresh start."

Chris nodded in consent. He knew the hardest part would be convincing their daughter to go along with the plan.

"And," said Lorelai, continuing, "Friday night dinners have been officially set up. I sacrificed my sanity and called both of our parents." Now it was Chris' turn to grimace.

"Ugh," was his only reply.

"You can't talk, I'm the one that had to actually call them and tell them what the plan was…"

"Wait," interrupted Chris, "you told them what the plan was, why Rory was going to be staying with you."

Lorelai Gilmore held up one hand and continued.

"and tell them the _abbreviated_ plan…"

"Better," stated Chris, slightly more relaxed. He cringed internally when he thought of his parents and the elder Gilmores knowing exactly why their daughter was going to be taking up a more permanent residence in Stars Hollow.

"and," continued Lorelai, "I'm the one who actually had to bring up the idea of Friday night dinners. That's right, I actually had to _suggest_ it."

Chris chuckled to himself, glad that it hadn't been him that had to call their parents.

"But," started Lorelai again, a sly look making it's way onto her face. A look of apprehension crossed Chris' features. Whatever Lorelai had done that was causing her to look at him like she was was not going to turn out to be something good.

"I made a little bit of a deal," she continued, looking more evil by the moment. Chris momentarily closed his eyes. This could only end badly. "We are going to alternate dinners."

Chris frowned slightly. Is that what Lorelai was trying to get at, because he was sure that is what they had decided on. "That sounds fine Lore," he replied, still slightly cautious.

"But you see, if I have to go to hell, you have to come with me."

"Uh uh," replied Chris vehemently. "No way, I live too far, I can't travel back weekly for a dinner with our parents – I don't have time."

"I figured that, so I came up with an alternative."

Chris too a deep breath, knowing that the chances of him liking the alternative were slim to none.

"Okay, so say week one. Rory and I have dinner with Emily and Richard. Week two. Rory and I have dinner with Francine and Straub. Week three. The _entire_ family has dinner." Stated Lorelai. "And then that just continues to repeat itself."

"You want me to travel down for a dinner every three weeks with both of our families?" Chris asked, wondering not for the first time if Lorelai's mental state was completely stable. Lorelai just nodded in return.

"You can not be serious," Chris replied in response to Lorelai's nodding of her head.

"Oh, my friend," started Lorelai, "I am deadly serious. If I have to spend every single week with them, then you can handle spending every third week with them." Seeing the look of apprehension still of Chris' face, Lorelai continued, "It's for Rory."

Chris' resistance crumbled and he half glared at Lorelai.

"It's not fair to use the Rory card on me," he grumbled in response to clapping. With a gleeful look on her face Lorelai motioned Luke over to the table. Now that she had won that argument, it was time for more coffee.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Lorelai 'Rory' Hayden stood on the front porch of her mother's small country home and surveyed her surroundings with a critical eye. Taking one last drag from the cigarette in her fingers, she flicked it into the bushes, sighing as she did so.

After spending ten minutes hanging out of her bedroom window while she smoked, Lorelai had decided that it would be much easier if she just walked onto the porch instead.

She looked over at her car, and her father's parked directly behind it. Neither of the two cars fitted in in the quaint country town she apparently had to call home for the next however long. In front of her Ferrari GT California was her mother's old dilapidated jeep. The contrast was beyond any explanation.

Her number plates weren't exactly inconspicuous either. 'Hayden1' was sure to get some attention, especially if she drove the car in Hartford. Her other car, one that she kept at her grandparent's, Francine and Straub Hayden's house wasn't any better. A slightly older, but just as flashy Ferrari F430, in a medium grey colour, with the number plates 'Hayden2'.

Lorelai sighed, knowing that she couldn't exactly drive up to Chilton in either of the cars and park them in the student lot, especially if she was going to attempt to remain anonymous. She knew her parent's had enrolled her as Rory Gilmore, and she knew they had done this to try and give her a fresh start, away from the prying eyes of society, and those who know of Lorelai Hayden, the somewhat notorious party girl.

She would have to give extra thought to the cars, because there was no way she was going to be catching the bus. Pulling herself out of the porch chair she had flopped into a few minutes ago, Lorelai started to devise a plan on how to react what her parents told her of their plan for her to have a fresh start.

She knew it made sense, and in all honesty, she did want to give a fresh start a go. This entire party girl image that she had acquired had been completely accidental, and then everything had gotten out of hand. But she didn't want to make it easy for either of her parents. It wasn't as though she could just accept what they were going to tell her. No, she had to act out, be upset and annoyed, but eventually agree to the idea, while still being sullen and slightly angry about it.

Satisfied that she had enough of a negative reaction planned, Lorelai walked down the steps of the porch and in the direction that she thought she remembered Luke's to be in.

After walking around for a little while, Lorelai Hayden started to wish she had listened to her mother when she was giving her those inane directions, and chattering on about something to do with a hardware store. If only she could remember what she had been saying about the hardware store.

She looked to the store which was on her right as she was walking along the footpath, and decided to go in and ask for directions. As small as this town was, she got the feeling if she didn't ask someone where to find Luke's she could well end up walking around in circles for the rest of the afternoon.

Pausing at the door and taking a deep breath, Lorelai walked into the store which the outside sign indicated was called 'Dooses'. Willing herself to have strength, and to not laugh at the people in the store, Lorelai walked up to the counter and stood in front of a rather tall boy, waiting for him to turn his attention to her.

After a moment she cleared her throat. He looked up at her suddenly, and flushed a delicate shade of pink. How pathetically sweet, she thought to herself.

"I need directions," Lorelai stated abruptly.

"Well hello to you as well," began the boy behind the counter. "I'm Dean. Did you just move here?"

Lorelai looked at the boy, raising her eyebrows. Idle chit chat was not what she had walked into the store for.

"Luke's diner," she prompted ignoring Dean's earlier question. "I'm meant to be meeting my mother there, but I can't find it." She added the end bit, hoping it would encourage this 'Dean' character to answer her promptly.

"I know who you are." He said suddenly. Lorelai raised her eyebrows again. She was not going to enjoy this town at all. "You're Lorelai Gilmore's daughter, aren't you?"

"Yes," sighed Lorelai, knowing she wasn't going to get directions out of this boy until she answered his questions.

"So, do you have a name?" The boy asked again. Lorelai scowled internally. Stupid people who asked too many questions. Inane questions too. Idiots.

"I'm Lor…" Lorelai stopped herself short. If she was going to actually start this whole fresh start thing her parent's seemed so keen on she might as well do it now. "I'm Rory Gilmore."

"Well, Rory Gilmore, it was very nice to meet you. Hopefully we'll see each other around," replied Dean.

Lorelai smiled slightly, not wanting to encourage the boy anymore.

"If you walk back out the front door, then turn right, and walk along the footpath until you see a sign for a hardware store. That's Luke's, he just never took down the sign."

Lorelai gritted her teeth. She had seen the damn place at least three times in her search for Luke's, but because of the bloody hardware sign, had promptly ignored it. Great, the directions from the floppy haired idiot could have been avoided.

As she was about to turn and leave, a magazine cover caught Lorelai's eye. _**"Hayden Heiress: At Rehab?"**_. Lorelai felt her eye's widen and her heart skip a beat. Great. Now the entire world was going to think she was spending time in rehab, especially when she didn't return to the city.

"I'll just take this as well," said Lorelai quietly as she pulled the magazine from the rack. Dean took it from her and glanced at the cover before swiping the barcode.

"That Lorelai Hayden, I tell you," started Dean. "Those rich kids think they can get away with everything. I mean, don't you think this one is pathetic," he continued, motioning to the picture of a drunken Lorelai on the front of the magazine. Now more than ever Lorelai was glad there were no good, clear pictures of her face being published.

Lorelai just raised her eyebrows again.

"Goodbye Dean," she said in her society voice, "and thank you for the directions, it was very kind of you."

Dean was beaming as Lorelai walked form the store, he had obviously not caught on to the icy hostility in Lorelai's last words, and had instead taken them at face value.

Once outside the store Lorelai quickly shoved the magazine into her handbag and walked along the sidewalk to Luke's diner.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Chris and Lorelai were sitting inside, debating the amount of coffee that Lorelai drank on a daily basis when the door bell jangled, indicating the arrival of a new patron into the diner.

Lorelai Gilmore looked over to her daughter, standing in the doorway and sighed. She was standing there, her designer handbag slung carelessly over her forearm, resting at her elbow, and was slowing pulling her Gucci sunglasses from her face, positioning them instead so that they held back her hair.

As the younger Lorelai walked towards their table, Lorelai and Chris both caught a faint whiff of cigarette smoke. Chris grimaced, and frowned slightly at their daughter.

"Lorelai. What have I told you about smoking?" he asked in a stern voice.

"Not to do it," replied Lorelai Hayden, looking bored. "How do you get a cup of coffee around here?" She asked.

Lorelai Gilmore sighed and motioned for Luke to come over to their table.

"Who's this?" he asked gruffly, indicating that he meant Lorelai Hayden with his hands.

"This is my daughter," started Lorelai carefully. She was about to introduce her to Luke as Rory, and Lorelai was hoping that Rory had too many manners to kick up a fuss in a crowded diner. "Rory Gilmore. Rory, this is Luke Danes, he owns the diner here."

Lorelai Hayden looked at her mother with raised eyebrows, wanting her to know that she had caught onto the way she had introduced her, and that she had not gotten away with it. Then she turned to Luke and smiled up at him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Danes," she replied in a sweet innocent voice. Chris raised his eyebrows slightly as well. He knew this side of his daughter, the polite, society bred side.

"It's Luke," he answered. "What can I get you?"

"Coffee please," replied Rory.

Luke nodded and headed back to the counter to fetch a cup of coffee for Rory. After he had returned and placed the steaming beverage in front of Rory, he walked away, leaving Rory to turn her full attention back to her parents. She just sat their and stared at them, waiting for one of them to make the first move. She was not going to make this easy for them.

"Lori," started Chris, his voice hesitant.

"I thought it was Rory now," replied Lorelai Hayden, her voice dry. Chris sighed, but continued anyway.

"Lori, your Mom has enrolled you at Chilton, in Hartford. You have been enrolled under the name Rory Gilmore. Honey, we want you to be able to have a fresh start here. Now you can make this as hard for us all as you want to, but when it comes down to it, you aren't going to be coming back to Boston any time soon if you continue to act the way you have been. If you on the other hand decide to take the fresh start we are offering you and make the most of it, you will be able to come back to Boston to do your senior year if that is what you choose."

Chris paused after saying all of this and waited to gauge his daughter's reaction.

"Rory it is then," she replied, the tone of her voice still bored. Lorelai Gilmore felt relief flood over her as their daughter agreed to what they had seen as their main hurdle. "I'm going to go back to Mom's house now then, if that is all," she continued.

"It's our house now Rory," began Lorelai. "I want you to be able to think about it as your house as well."

Rory looked at both of her parents with a look of disdain plastered across her face. She had agreed to the Rory thing quite easily, so there was no way she was going to go along with this one as well.

"I'm going back to _Mom's _house now," reiterated Rory, stressing the word Mom. Rory lifted her coffee mug, draining the rest of the hot beverage before standing and walking to the door, not once looking back at her parents, who were still sitting at the same table, with looks of defeat on their faces.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: Well, I hope you all enjoyed that chapter! I actually wasn't planning on bringing Dean into the story at all, because I am not a fan of Dean, and pathetic Dean annoys me as well, so... I'm not quite sure what I am going to do with him now that he has wormed his way into the story. **

**Jess will be appearing int he next chapter, but there will be no romantic feelings between Jess and Rory. They will be strictly friends. **

**Tristan will also be making another appearance in the next couple of chapters, but this next appearance is not what I am talking about when I have said to some people in review replies that when Tristan and Rory meet it will not be how anyone expects, that will be the appearance after this next one (which will NOT happen at Chilton!)**

**(P.S. Remember to check my LiveJournal account - link on my profile page - for updates, pictures and what not....)**

**Okay, so I'm going to stop giving things away now - remember to review if you want a sneak peek (or if you just want to make me really really happy!!)**

**Have a really great Christmas for all of you who celebrate it!!**

**Avery xoxo**


	5. Happiness in Ibiza

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing...**_

**A/N: Finally the next chapter is here!! Sorry about the wait, I hope it is worth it!!**

**CHAPTER FIVE:**

Lorelai Gilmore stood on her front porch, watching Christopher Hayden's car disappear around the corner of the street she lived on. She sighed, wondering what on earth she was going to do now.

Looking out into her yard and laying her eyes once again on her daughter's car, she decided to go inside and attempt to talk to Rory about it. There was no way a fresh start as a semi-normal kid would be possible if she was going to drive that thing around. Plus, it would stand out in Stars Hollow like a sore thumb.

Knocking on Rory's door, Lorelai took a deep breath and called out to her daughter tentatively.

"Rory, can I come in?"

"Whatever," came the reply from behind the closed door. Lorelai shrugged to herself. It was better than nothing she supposed. She opened the door and walking in, ending up at the end of her daughter's bed.

"Rory," she started, unsure of how to broach the subject of the car. "About your car." She decided being blunt and straight out there was the best way.

"My car is not negotiable," replied Rory straight away. There was no way she was going to let them do anything to her car. She had agreed to coming to live in Star Hollow. She had agreed to moving schools. Hell, she had even agreed to being enrolled in this new school under a name that wasn't even her real name. She was not going to agree to get rid of her favourite car.

"Rore," started Lorelai again, wanting to make her daughter see some sense. "That car is going to stand out like a sore thumb here in Stars Hollow, and how do you expect to go to Chilton under the name Rory Gilmore and start afresh if you turn up in a brand new Ferrari with number plates 'Hayden1'?"

Rory considered what her mother was saying for a moment. She did have a point, and if she was going to be entirely honest she had been wondering the same thing.

"Look," replied Rory after a moment's hesitation. "I'm not getting rid of my car, okay?" Lorelai sighed. "But…" continued Rory, "I am willing to compromise."

Lorelai quickly replaced her sigh with a slight smile. At least Rory was open to compromising. It was a promising start, not just with the car, but in general.

"I won't drive the car around Stars Hollow, like you said, what would be the point of everyone calling me Rory Gilmore if I drive my own car around? But I am going to drive it to school. I'll just park it at Grandma and Grandpa Hayden's house and walk from there to school. Their house is only three blocks from school and no one is going to think twice about that car with those number plates parked outside the Hayden residence."

Lorelai nodded her head, considering what her daughter had put forth to her.

"Okay," she replied after she had finished digesting what Rory had suggested. "What about when the car is here? You can't just park it out there like that. We'd have the entire of Stars Hollow camping on our lawn wanting to know what it was doing there, who it belonged to, you know."

Rory raised her eyebrows as she considered the visual of the townsfolk in Stars Hollow camping on her mother's lawn because of her car. From what she had seen of the town so far this morning, her mother's estimation of their reaction probably wouldn't be far off.

"Garage," Rory replied simply.

"My garage?" asked Lorelai, her voice sceptical. "You think you are going to be able to fit your car in my garage?"

"Your garage is definitely big enough for my car," replied Rory with indignation. She had seen it earlier and remembered appraising the size of it, wondering if her car would fit. She had decided that it most definitely would.

"Yes," replied Lorelai. "My garage would definitely fit your car, if it wasn't filled with approximately fifteen years of junk."

"Then we clean," answered Rory simply, as though she was talking to a child.

"We clean?" asked Lorelai, who looked as though the concept was completely foreign to her. "Gilmore girls do not clean."

Rory nodded, considering this for a moment. Cleaning out her mother's garage was not really her idea of a good time either. "Then we hire people to clean and then take the junk away with them."

"Hey," started Lorelai, "I like my junk."

"Mom, it's got to go," replied Rory as she walked out of her bedroom and into the kitchen.

Lorelai stayed in her daughter's room for a few seconds longer, as smile across her face. Rory had called her Mom, and she had done it willingly and without thinking. This new arrangement might just work.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"Rory," Lorelai called to her daughter from the kitchen. "Some friends are coming over tonight, okay?" When her daughter didn't answer her, Lorelai stuck her head in the door of Rory's room.

"Rory?" she questioned again. "Did you hear me? Some of my friends are going to come over for dinner and to meet you tonight."

"What, like I'm some zoo animal that everyone can just come around and gawk at?" Asked Rory, in an icy tone. Lorelai was taken aback. What happened to the nice Rory she had been speaking to earlier in the afternoon. What happened to the daughter she was getting along with?

"No Rory," replied Lorelai in a harsh tone as well. She stopped herself, mentally willing herself to contain her anger at her daughter. Snapping back at her would do no one any good now. She started speaking again in a more gentle voice. "Nothing like that. Sookie is my best friend, and she is coming and bringing her husband. Plus she is an excellent cook, so that is always a bonus." Lorelai let out a small laugh at her description of her best friend. Rory just continued to look at her mother with the same bored look on her face.

Lorelai sighed and continued. "And you have already met Luke, so he isn't counted, but he is also bringing over his nephew who lives with him. Jess is about your age. I thought it would be nice for you to have a friend here in Stars Hollow, or for you to at least meet someone your own age. They are coming over at 6:30pm whether you like it or not, so I would really like you to be civilized when they get here."

Lorelai walked back into the kitchen, hoping Rory would change back into the nice version of herself by the time 6:30pm rolled around. She glanced at the clock. 5:58pm. Great, only half and hour for another change to occur in her daughter.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"…doesn't do dairy," wailed Sookie in a stressed out voice. Lorelai shook her head, not wanting to know the conversation that Sookie and her husband Jackson were having in the kitchen. Instead she headed towards the door to let Luke and his nephew in after hearing a knock.

"Hey," greeted Lorelai at the door. "Perfect timing. Sookie is about to break her own record for the most food served outside the Roman Empire." Jess chuckled at Lorelai's words in spite of himself. Sometimes it was hard not to get caught up in the eccentricities of the town and the townsfolk.

"Sounds great," replied Luke. "Rory around then is she?" Lorelai simply nodded her head in response. She was hoping Rory had snapped out of the mood she had been in half and hour ago and was back to acting civilized again, but one could never be sure.

Jess nodded to Lorelai as a greeting and made his way into the house. Wandering around the lounge room which had become a familiar setting to him, (Lorelai was always in need of something to be repaired, and it usually fell to either himself or Luke), he noticed pictures on the mantle which had not been there before.

Glancing at the new additions, Jess realised that they must all be of Lorelai's daughter. A happy brunette was laughing and smiling in almost all of the pictures. Most were with her father, some with people whom Jess assumed were grandparents. There was one picture in particular in which the young girl looked extremely happy.

It was a picture of five friends, on holiday at a beach somewhere. The girl Jess assumed to be Rory was standing in the middle of the others, with a blonde girl on her left. The two girls here leaning into each other and laughing, as though they were sharing the funniest joke they had each ever heard. Around the two girls were three boys, one blonde and two brunettes.

Rory walked into the lounge room, following her mother's directions on where she and Luke had left Jess. Frowning slightly, she wondered what exactly he was doing standing at the mantle place, concentrating hard on something. All too late she realise it was a photo. A photo of her, Logan, Colin, Finn and Steph, from a holiday they took about eight months ago to Ibiza.

Rory cleared her throat, causing Jess to startled and quickly turn around to face her. She raised her eyebrows and took a closer look at the picture, willing the lump that was threatening to form in her throat to go away.

"That shouldn't be there," she said softly, taking the offending photo frame from Jess' hands and laying it flat on the mantle so that no one could see the picture it contained.

"You looked happy," stated Jess, wanting to know why the picture had provoked such a negative response from the girl.

"I was happy," replied Rory. "It was a long time ago," she amended, slightly averting her eyes from Jess' hard gaze. Sensing her discomfort Jess decided to change the conversation.

"So," he began, "you must be Rory."

"Points for the obvious remark genius," replied Rory without thinking of her response. She mentally kicked herself and tried again. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so abrupt, force of habit." She hoped he would understand. To her surprise Jess actually smiled.

"Don't be. It's good to have someone around here who isn't afraid to speak their mind, don't get me wrong, I do for the most part enjoy living here, but Stars Hollow can get a little to cheerful for me sometimes."

Rory smiled back at him, glad she had found somewhat of a kindred soul in this place. It would be nice to have a friend while she was here.

"I am Rory," she replied. "You must be Luke's nephew, Jess right?"

"That's right," answered Jess.

"So," said Rory, dragging the word out. "Shall we?"

"Shall we what?" asked Jess.

"Bail," replied Rory as if it had been the most obvious thing in the world.

"Uh, no," replied Jess in response to Rory's request to leave her mother's house.

"How come," asked Rory, wondering if maybe she had misjudged Jess after all.

"It's Fridaynight in Stars Hollow. There is no where to bail to. The 24hr mini mart just closed 10 minutes ago."

"So we'll walk around, or sit on a bench and stare at our shoes."

"Look, Rory, I know it doesn't seem like it to you right now, but tonight is going to be fun. Sookie has made a tonne of really great food, and if your appetite is anything like Lorelai's then you're going to love it. Plus, do you really want to start off on the wrong foot like this with Lorelai, I mean, sneaking out on your first night here?"

Rory considered this for a moment and further appraised Jess. She had done a complete 360◦ in her judgement of Jess since she had started talking to him, and was back at believing he was something of a kindred soul.

"Food it is then," she relented, motioning for Jess to lead the way to the rest of the people.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"Luke," started Lorelai, unsure of how to word her concerns about having Rory live with her. She wanted her daughter living with her, and she didn't want it to sound as though she was regretting the decision, because she wasn't, but she couldn't help but feel unsure. "I don't know what I'm doing," she admitted feebly. "What if I screw up?"

"You won't screw up. You're Lorelai Gilmore, you can do anything you set your mind too."

"But what if I do, and what if she ends up hating me for it?"

"Lorelai, you are going to try your best, and don't think about screwing up. It's not going to happen. Sure, there might be rough patches, but you'll get through them. You've done an amazing thing by accepting this challenge, and you're going to do an amazing job at it," answered Luke.

Lorelai smiled. She was glad she had friends like Luke, Sookie and Jackson who she could count on to boost her spirit when she was feeling low.

"And," continued Luke. "Look at me and Jess. When I first took Jess in I felt like I'm guessing you are feeling now. I felt like I was way in over my head and I just kept asking myself, what have I gotten into? But I took one day at a time, which is what you are going to do with Rory, and we made it. And look at how much Jess has changed since he came here."

Lorelai nodded. She had seen the dramatic change in Jess from the time he had arrived in Stars Hollow to now. She just hoped that change was possible in Rory as well.

"Thanks Luke. You really helped."

"Hey, what are friends for?" replied Luke with a smile.

"On the plus side," started Lorelai, "it looks as though Jess and Rory are getting along, so maybe he will be a good influence on her?"

"Maybe," replied Luke thoughtfully, liking the idea of Jess making more friends in Stars Hollow. Apart from a small Korean girl named Lane who worked at the diner, Jess mainly avoided the rest of the kids in Stars Hollow.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory wandered outside after dinner had finished, grateful to Jess for convincing her to stay. She had enjoyed the night, as much as she would never admit that to her mother or father.

Standing on the back porch, she frowned slightly as she saw a silhouette of Jess' figure at the edge of the garden, concentrating hard on something in his hands. She walked over to him, curious about what it was he was holding.

"Watcha got there?" She asked unashamed.

"Shit," replied Jess as he jumped, unaware that someone had snuck up behind him. "Caught me," he answered guiltily, holding out a cigarette.

Rory raised her eyebrows again.

"Looks like I am going to have to re-evaluate my opinion of you. You a lot more 'bad boy' than I had you pegged."

"I'm quitting," admitted Jess. "Luke doesn't know I still smoke. I was just deciding what to do with this one when you came over."

"And your final decision?"

"Don't smoke it," replied Jess with a tone of finality in this voice. Noticing the questioning look on her face he continued. "I only moved in with Luke just over a year ago, I use to live up in New York before that."

"New York?" interrupted Rory, impressed. "Really?"

"Yeah, but I got caught up in some pretty bad shit, so my Mom, being the brilliant lady she is packed me off to live with Uncle Luke," replied Jess, his voice laced with sarcasm. He noticed a visible fall in her face as he spoke, and her voice sounded somewhat defeated when she answered him.

"Yeah," she replied softly, "I know." Rory spoke so softly that Jess wasn't sure he had entirely heard her, but just as he was about to question the reason behind her sudden change in mood, Luke's voice resonated across the yard, calling out to him that it was time to leave. Jess sighed.

"Back home it is then," he said with a rueful grin to Rory. She smiled tentatively in return. It would be nice to have a friend here.

As Jess walked around the side of the house to meed Luke out the front, Rory walked back in the back door of the house, and headed towards her bedroom.

"Rore," called her Mom as she walked in from the foyer. "I was thinking…"

Rory interrupted Lorelai, not wanting to get into another conversation right now. She was still feeling a little off from Jess' accidental reminder of her previous lifestyle, and the shock of seeing the picture of her and her old friends sitting proudly on the mantle.

"I'm tired Mom," she said swiftly, before Lorelai could say anything else. "I just want to go to bed." Without waiting for a reply, Rory continued to walk into her bedroom and closed the door behind her, flopping onto her bed.

Lorelai stood outside the closed door and for what felt like the millionth time that day, let out a long sigh, wondering just how out of her depth she was in trying to straighten out her wayward teenage daughter.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: Thanks for reading, and remember, check my homepage (link in profile) for updates on what is happening with the stories!**

**I have already started chapter six, so it shouldn't be too far away - but remember to review!!! (And, as usual, those who review will get a sneak peek!)**

**Happy New Year everyone!**

**Avery xoxo**


	6. Breakfast and an Invite

**_DISCLAIMER: I own nothing..._**

**Chapter Six:**

"Rise and shine sleepy head," called an overtly chipper voice from the other side of Rory's bedroom door.

"Go away Satan," mumbled Rory incoherently into her pillow.

Lorelai stood outside the door to her daughter's bedroom, wondering if entering would be crossing an invisible line of privacy. She decided that it wasn't, and that if she didn't go in, Rory would probably not emerge for quite a while.

"Rory," she called, slightly more softly as she opened the door slowly. Her daughter was spread across her bed, showing no signs of getting up. "I was thinking we could go to Luke's for breakfast."

"Right," mumbled Rory, turning her head slightly so her mother could hear her. "And when morning comes, I will be sure to go to Luke's with you for breakfast. However, morning doesn't seem to be quite here yet."

"Rory, it's nine o'clock."

"My point exactly," replied Rory, returning her head to face her pillow.

"Rory, Rooory, Rory, Rory, Roory," sang Lorelai as she pranced around her daughters room. As she got nearer to the window she pulled the blind, allowing light to stream into the room. "See," she said, glad to have proven her point. "The sun is up. It is morning. And morning means Luke's for breakfast."

"Does Luke not do all day breakfasts? Some of the better diners do you know."

"Not the point young lady. And for your information he does. But… we are going now because I am hungry."

"Eat something here."

"There isn't anything here. A fact you will soon come to learn very very quickly."

That got Rory's attention. She sat up in bed and faced her mother.

"You have no food in your house? On a regular basis?"

"Well, I usually have pop tarts, but I ran out, so we have to stop by the market on our way home from breakfast too.

"Aargh," moaned Rory, flopping back onto her pillow. "Fine, I will come to breakfast with you, but you have to give me half and hour. We will leave here at nine thirty."

Lorelai considered this, and, deciding that this would be the best offer she was going to get without severely pissing off her daughter, agreed and flounced out of the room.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"So so early," moaned Rory, glaring at her overly awake mother. Why anyone would want to be so awake at this time on a Saturday morning was completely beyond her.

"But there's coffee," said Lorelai in a voice that clearly stated that she felt the presence of coffee fixed all problems.

"True. There is coffee. But it's only a small consolation."

"Fine," replied Lorelai, "watch me make food appear as well." Turning her attention away from Rory and towards the counter, Lorelai called out of Luke in a southern accent, causing him to come out from the backroom scowling at her.

"What do you want?" he asked gruffly.

"The pleasure of your company of course," replied Lorelai.

"Order now or order never," stated Luke.

"Pancakes," yelled Lorelai, despite the fact that Luke was standing two feet away from her.

"Eggs," yelled Rory, imitating Lorelai's yell and laughing slightly at Luke's reaction.

"Two Lorelai's," he muttered to himself as he walked towards the kitchen to cook the girl's orders. "Just what Stars Hollow needs."

Just as he made it to the counter, Rory's mobile phone started to ring.

"Out," said Luke in a no nonsense voice, pointing to the no mobiles sign posted on the back wall. Lorelai nodded solemnly, attempting to keep a straight face as she did so.

"There is a no mobile phones policy in this diner. Out you go," she told her daughter, finally losing her fight to keep a straight face.

Rory rose from her seat, shacking her head in despair at her mother and the town in general and made her way to the front door with her ringing phone in her hand. On her way to the door she past Jess, who was delivering an order to a table.

"How dare you even think of using that contraption in this establishment," he whispered mockingly, grinning at Rory. She couldn't help but crack a smile as she opened the front door and finally answered her phone.

"Hello."

"Lorelai Hayden, missing you already," came a voice from the other end of the phone. Rory recognised Mike's voice immediately, and sighed inwardly. She really wasn't up to dealing with him right now, she wasn't being Lorelai Hayden at the moment, she was busy being Rory Gilmore.

"Hi Mike," she replied, not wanting to sound rude.

"So, Miss Hayden, we are all coming to Hartford tonight. It's a bit of a coincidence really, one of my mates who is at some boarding school in Europe is holding a massive blow out before he heads out again. Apparently his folks are away in London at the moment. So we'll see you there I assume?"

Rory considered it for a moment. She didn't want to lose Lorelai's trust, especially since she wasn't all that sure that she even had it yet. But these were her semi-friends from Boston, and she wasn't going to see them for a while. Plus, they would think something was wrong if she didn't go, nothing stopped Lorelai Hayden from attending a party.

She hadn't told any of them about the name change yet. And she didn't think she was going to either. If she really wanted a fresh start it would be better if the other kids at Chilton didn't know she was Lorelai Hayden, or who she was friends with.

"Can I bring a friend?" asked Rory, thinking about Mike's assumption that she would be attending a party tonight in Hartford.

"Whatever babe, just be there." Mike continued on to tell her the time and address, and hung up after saying that they were all waiting to see her and they missed her.

Rory looked at her phone for a moment before walking back into the diner. Convincing Lorelai that she should be allowed to go to a party at some rich society kids house in Hartford wasn't going to be easy. After all, that was the exact reason she was sent to live in Stars Hollow in the first place, and she knew what her mother's thoughts on high society were.

Walking back in the front door of the diner, Rory spotted Jess and at till, and walked straight up to the counter to talk to him before returning to her own table.

"So, there is this party in Hartford tonight, would you like to come and keep me company? Strictly friends," asked Rory. She ha added the last part because she didn't want there to be any miscommunication between them. From the looks of the town and the people who lived here, Jess could well turn out to be her only friend, and she really would prefer to keep him as a friend.

"You expect Lorelai to let you go to a party in Hartford?" asked Jess, somewhat sceptically.

"I have my ways," replied Rory. "So, are you in?"

"If it is cool with Lorelai and Luke, then sure, why not. I'll come to your party in Hartford with you. As strictly friends," he replied, grinning at her. Smiling back, Rory walked back to her table, wondering how to ask Lorelai.

She decided the best approach was a straight forward, honest approach. She wanted to go to a party in Hartford. I mean, what was so wrong with that?

"So," started Rory, once she had reached Lorelai. "There is a party in Hartford tonight. Some of my old friends from Boston are coming down, and I was going to go and catch up with them before I start a new school.. I mean, I might not have a chance to catch up with them any time soon."

"No," replied Lorelai straight away. She didn't really think that not having time to catch up with these friends was such a bad thing herself, but that was just her opinion.

Rory raised her eyebrows, looking at her mother. She was going to have to play hardball to get Lorelai to agree to this one.

"So your plan is to just keep me under lock and key then? Not even going to give me a chance to prove myself to you? I mean, all you have are stories from Dad. I've never actually done anything to make you not trust me," stated Rory. "And I won't either," she added quickly at the end. "I just want to go into Hartford, catch up with some old friends and stuff. Jess said he'd like to come with me, so long as you and Luke are cool with the idea."

Lorelai considered what her daughter had said. Thinking back to her own childhood, she remembered how little attempting to keep a teenager from doing anything worked. She didn't want for Rory the type of childhood she had, she didn't want to turn into Emily Gilmore.

Rory could see her mother floundering. She smiled to herself. A combination of having Jess come with her and laying guilt on her mother about stopping her from doing anything seemed to be working.

She was glad she had asked Jess to come with her, he seemed as though he would be the type of person she could be friends with, and she needed a friend here in Stars Hollow if she was going to have to stay here for any extended period time.

"Promise you'll behave?" Lorelai asked her daughter. "And by that I mean no pictures in papers, no jeopardising your fresh start at Chilton."

Rory nodded in response to her mother's question. The more she thought about having a fresh start the more she was finding that she craved it. She wanted to go back to being a carefree teenager, not having to worry about ending up in the gossip columns of the major papers. After all, that entire part of her life had been an accident anyway. She hadn't meant to start taking drug, drinking all night, sleeping with random strangers whose names she couldn't remember. She shuddered involuntarily, and was glad Lorelai was at that time turned away, trying to catch Luke's attention so she could bug him about when her food was going to be ready.

"You can go to the party then," replied Lorelai once she was facing her daughter again. "Rory, I don't want to smother you, and I trust Jess. I want to be able to trust you as well, so, just make sure you give me reason to, okay?"

"Sure Mom," replied Rory, just as Luke placed two steaming plates of breakfast in front of them.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Jess walked through the front yard of the Gilmore house, ready to meet Rory so they could go to this party in Hartford. Rory hadn't really told him much else about the party, except that it was being held by friend of one of her old friends from Boston. Some rich kid whose parent's were in another country at the moment.

Knocking on the door, Jess hoped Rory wasn't going to do anything silly. Even though he had only known her one day, he had grown quite fond of having her as a friend, especially since he couldn't really stomach any of the other kids his age in Stars Hollow. They were all like Stepford children. Except Lane Kim, his one other friend.

Jess made a mental note to introduce Lane and Rory, he had a strong feeling that they would get along famously.

"Jess," greeted Lorelai as she opened the door for him. "Come in, Rory is just finishing getting ready, and then you can both head off."

Jess nodded, and glanced at his watch. It was just after nine, so hopefully, so long as Rory didn't take too long, they should be there by about quarter to ten.

"Hi Jess," greeted Rory. Jess raised his eyebrows at her choice of outfit. She looked as though she was going to a country club luncheon, not a party thrown by a teenager whose parents were out of town. Rory just winked in response.

"We're going to go now Mom," said Rory as she turned towards her mother.

"Okay, what time will you kids be home?" Lorelai asked, wanted to do the responsible thing.

"I don't know Mom," said Rory, putting on an uneasy voice. "I was thinking we might just stay with friends in Hartford. I mean, I don't know when the party is going to finish, and I don't want to risk driving too late at night, because of animals, or if I'm tired."

Lorelai looked dubious as she listened to Rory's explanation, but eventually caved as Rory shot her an innocent smile.

"Okay, I'll see you kids tomorrow morning then, will you call me before you leave Hartford?"

"Sure thing Mom," replied Rory, and grabbed Jess' hand, pulling him towards the front door.

"Bye Lorelai," called Jess as he was pulled out onto the porch. "So, Rory, how are we getting to Hartford? Did Lorelai say we could borrow her car."

Rory laughed in response to Jess' question and motioned for him to follow her towards the garage.

"Rory," said Jess, following closely behind her, "Lorelai's garage has nothing but junk in it. It is very dangerous to open those doors."

"Relax Jess, I had it cleaned out earlier today."

"You cleaned out Lorelai's garage?"

"No, I had it cleaned out. Men in work clothes can and took everything out of it, and then took all the junk away. It took a long time, because Lorelai decided she was attached sentimentally to every single thing in there. We managed to get her to throw away the majority of it though."

Jess looked at Rory, impressed, as she opened the garage door. Seeing what was inside the garage, Jess let out a low whistle.

"This is a very nice car Rory Gilmore. What did you do, steal it?"

"No," replied Rory, "this is my car. And the reason I had to have the garage cleaned out. Lorelai doesn't want too much attention pulled towards me so the car apparently must either be hidden or gotten rid of, and there is no way I am giving up my car."

"Nice," said Jess.

"Ferrari GT California," said Rory in response to Jess' reaction to her car. "They've only just started making them, this is one of the first ones available."

Jess nodded, getting into the passenger side of the car. Rory started the V8 engine and back the car out of the garage.

"So, how did you get Lorelai to agree to everything so easily," asked Jess, curiously.

"One of my many talents," replied Rory.

"And your outfit?" Asked Jess again. "It doesn't really seem like you."

Rory just chuckled and pointed to a bag at Jess' feet that he hadn't noticed before.

"That is my _real_ outfit," replied Rory. "But Lorelai was much more likely to trust me if I was dressed like this as oppose to the clothes I actually plan on wearing. I'll et changed before we reach Hartford."

"Okay," replied Jess.

Rory swallowed silently, and stole a quick glance towards Jess. All of her instincts told her that she could trust him, and if he was going to actually come to the party with her tonight then she would have to explain some things to him.

"Look," started Rory, unsure of how to continue. "We're meeting some of my friends from Boston tonight, and they know a very different me to the one you have met so far. And I'm only telling you this so you don't feel shanghaied when people start calling me a different name."

"Different name?" asked Jess, confused as to what Rory was talking about.

Taking a deep breath Rory continued.

"Have you ever heard of Lorelai Hayden?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure," replied Jess. "Notorious party girl, socialite from some serious old money. Your typical rich kid, she's in all the gossip columns on regular occasions."

"I'm Lorelai Hayden," said Rory tentatively. Silence filled the car. "Jess?" she asked questioningly.

"You, are Lorelai Hayden? I don't believe you."

"Did you not notice the number plates on this car?" Asked Rory dryly.

Jess though back to when Rory had first opened the garage doors, and remembered the number plates, Hayden1, but hadn't taken any notice of them at the time.

"You're Lorelai Hayden," said Jess, finally believing her.

"So, why are you telling me this?" Asked Jess. "I mean, if you're going to all the trouble of calling yourself Rory Gilmore, why are you telling me differently."

"Because some of the people at the party we are going to tonight are my friends from the last 3 months in Boston. And they know me only as Lorelai Hayden, and that is the way I want it to stay. I don't want them to know about Rory Gilmore, they aren't really people I would trust."

"You don't trust your friends? And why only the last three months?"

"I don't really want to discuss it anymore."

"Does this have something to do with the picture from Lorelai's mantle I saw last night."

"I said I didn't want to talk about it Jess, and I meant it," replied Rory harshly. Jess dropped the subject, making a mental note to pick it up again at a later stage when Rory was in a better mood.

"So, for tonight, I am Lorelai Hayden," continued Rory. "It would help if you would call me Lorelai as well, instead of Rory."

Jess nodded, Rory may not have explained everything to him, but he could sense that her telling him this much and asking him to help her tonight had been very hard for her.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: **So, here is the next installment of The Challenges Life Brings. I know I said to people in review replies that I would have it up by the 7th or 8th, but life just got out of hand, and my parents abandoned me and one of my brothers (note the over-exaggeration...) and made us cook for ourselves (something Mom usually does for us at home!!), so that was slightly interesting!

Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, and **review** for a sneak peek of **chapter 7**!!

Avery xoxo


	7. Lorelai's Last Party

**_DISCLAIMER: I own nothing..._**

**A/N: Hope everyone enjoys this - sorry it's been a little while since the last update, but I am finally back at my house and... constant internet access!!! Yeah!! So that is motivating me to write much more often, hence this chapter being uploaded!!**

**Chapter Seven:**

Rory pulled her car in front of a large Hartford mansion, dressed in a completely different outfit from the one she had left her mother's house in. Along the way they had stopped so she could change into the outfit she had hidden in the backseat of her car earlier that day.

Tonight Rory was reverting to Lorelai Hayden. She sighed, it didn't seem like only a couple of days ago that this was her real life, her only life. Now she had a fresh start, a chance to make everything right again. The way it was before everything got so out of hand.

She was wearing a black dress with silver beads covering the bodice. The dress stopped mid thigh, and on her feet she wore tall silver stilettos. A silver clutch lay on her lap and a diamond hair clip held the back half of her hair up, while the rest fell gently on her shoulders. To top off the outfit she had slid a black headband on the front of her head.

"You still want to go in?" Asked Jess. "If you don't, we could just grab some food, I don't think Lorelai would mind if we did go back to Stars Hollow tonight."

Rory gave a slight smile.

"I have to go in," she replied, glancing at Jess. "But if you don't want to you're welcome to take my car back, I'll get a lift with someone in the morning. I know this isn't everyone's scene."

"Relax _Lorelai_," replied Jess, "I use to live at these types of parties when I was in New York. And ones much worse. I'll be fine."

Rory shot Jess a grateful look, glad that he hadn't taken her up on her offer to bail.

Without another word, Lorelai Hayden opened her car door, and sauntered into the house. Jess raised his eyebrows slightly at her behaviour, knowing that he really knew nothing about the girl he had recently become good friends with, and followed her into the party.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"Lorelai Hayden," yelled a voice from across the room. Both Lorelai and Jess turned to see who the voice belonged too. Spotting the culprit, Lorelai plastered a massive smile across her face, one Jess assumed was not entirely sincere, and ran to meet the person in question.

"Mike," squealed Lorelai in return once she had reached the group which included her old friends from Boston. "Oh, and Austin, Cooper and Brooke. You're all here. I am so glad to see you all."

"Us too Lori, it's only been a day and we've been missing you," replied Cooper.

"Yeah, English is so boring without you, I mean, who am I going to mock Mrs. Jacobson with now?" Asked Brooke, laughter in her voice.

Though it wouldn't have been overly obvious to any outsider, Lorelai could tell that all of her friends were either drunk or high, or possibly even both. Seeing Jess walk up beside her from the corner of her eye, Lorelai introduced him to the crowd in front of her.

"Jess, these are my bestest friends from Boston. Mike, Austin, Cooper and Brooke. Guys, this is Jess, my newest friends and the only sane person I have found so far in Stars Hollow. Though I make the assumption that is because he is actually from New York." Lorelai laughed as she finished speaking, wishing for the tenth time since she had walked in the door that she was as wasted as everybody else here.

Jess took another deep breath, slightly shocked at the incredible change that had spontaneously occurred in Rory since she spotted her friends from Boston. Putting on her most charming smile, Jess addressed Rory's friends.

"Very nice to meet you all, and I must say, it is extremely nice to meet another sane person stuck in Stars Hollow," replied Jess.

All of Rory's friends laughed at Jess' antics, as he shook the hands of Mike, Austin and Cooper. Once he got to Brooke he changed tactics, wanting to completely charm Rory's friends, knowing how important tonight was to her. He knew all about people like these, he had run into them enough during his time in New York.

"And it is especially nice to meet such a lovely lady," said Jess is a mocking gentleman like voice, as he kissed Brooke's hand. Brooke giggled in response.

Lorelai rolled her eyes in an over exaggerated manner at her friends and decided now would be a great time to escape them for the time being.

"Come on Casanova, let's go and get a couple a drinks so we can catch up this everyone else here. We'll be back guys," said Lorelai to her friends as she pulled Jess towards the drinks.

"So those are your friends from Boston," asked Jess once they had made it out of earshot.

"Those are my friends from Boston," answered Lorelai. "Thanks though, you know, for acting like that and all. It was really helpful."

"Hey, anything for my newest friend," replied Jess, laughter in his voice. "Anyway, I knew people that that all the time in New York. You know, you're not such a bad person for living like you have been Rore," added Jess.

Lorelai looked around her quickly, and satisfied that no one had heard him call her Rore, let out a small smile as she made her way closer to the drink table.

"I don't know how that became my life," whispered Lorelai, more to herself than to anyone else. Brightening up slightly, she spoke again. "Whether I am or not, tonight I am going to revert to the old me. And then tomorrow I am going to try to work on being the daughter Lorelai wants, for the time being."

"Really," asked Jess in a slightly disbelieving tone.

"Key word being _try_," replied Rory, picking up a drink each for them both. As she was about to hand one to Jess, she thought again and instead put them back on the counter for the moment, pouring them both a couple a shots first.

Jess raised his eyebrows slightly, and downed one, offering to forgo the second. Lorelai just shrugged and did his second shot along with her own two.

"You'll be okay tonight then?" Asked Lorelai, not wanting to abandon Jess considering he was nice enough to come with her.

Jess laughed at her suggestion that he needed babysitting.

"I lived in New York girlie. Just because I've conformed to the expectations of the good people of Stars Hollow, to an extent anyway, doesn't mean I'm innocent or naïve."

"You'll have to tell me all about it one day," chuckled Lorelai.

"You'll have to tell me all about Boston one day," countered Jess, testing the boundaries on Rory's old life.

After a moment's thought she poured herself one last shot and downed that as well before picking up her drink.

"May as well make it an even four," she said to Jess with a sly smile on her face, before she walked off into the crowd.

"And she wonders how she got into so much trouble," said Jess quietly to himself with a smile on his face, before shaking his head and wandering into the mass of people himself.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Lorelai laughed at something that the person whose lap she was sitting on had said. She really had no idea what it was that they were talking about, but she was quickly becoming very drunk, so quite frankly she didn't really care.

"Whoah," she squeaked suddenly as she was pulled from the guy's lap and into the familiar arms of another guy. Looking into his blue eyes she frowned slightly, not quite being able to place where she knew them from.

"Lorelai Hayden I believe," said the guy in a charming and somewhat irresistible voice. Suddenly Lorelai remembered exactly where she knew this mystery guy from. A sly smile spread across her face as she spoke.

"Hmmm, well, lets see. I do believe I know you," she replied playfully. "Something starting with a T, or was it a R?"

"I'm hurt Ms. Hayden, really I am," replied the gorgeous man holding her.

"Oh," started Lorelai suddenly, feigning surprise, "that's right. Tristan. Tristan Dugrey."

"So you do remember me," chuckled Tristan, his eyes dancing playfully. Lorelai could smell the alcohol on his breath, but she didn't particularly care. He could probably smell the alcohol on hers too by now.

"Rather unforgettable if I do say so myself," whispered Lorelai seductively in his ear. If there was one thing she knew about guys like Tristan, they loved having their ego's stroked. Plus he was cute, so why not play with him? Raising her voice slightly back to a normal level Lorelai continued. "Twice in one week Mr Dugrey. I do feel privileged."

"Dance?" He asked, not waiting for her response before pulling her onto the makeshift dance floor that had been constructed in the room.

"So," started Lorelai, "how do you know the guy throwing this party?" She loved these conversations, where people were drunk enough to actually talk like normal people without guarding their every word, but not too drunk that they couldn't string a sentence together.

"Just another random guy. Austin actually convinced me to come, I wasn't going to, after all, a party is a party after a while."

"I see," replied Lorelai.

"Austin tells me you have moved somewhere around here, I don't remember if he said where though. So I should be seeing you around then?" Asked Tristan.

"No, you won't be," replied Lorelai, quickly thinking of a way to cover. It wasn't likely that Tristan would even remember this conversation tomorrow, but she may as well have a good excuse for him just in case he did.

"Really," enquired Tristan, raising his eyebrows. "Lorelai Hayden will not be attending Chilton Prepatory Academy? It's the best prep school for miles, I find it hard to believe someone with a name like Hayden wouldn't be going there if they are living in the area."

"No, Lorelai Hayden will not be attending Chilton," whispered Lorelai quietly. "Are there many Chilton students here tonight?"

"Nah," replied Tristan nonchalantly. "This is an entirely different crowd. There is the odd one, but it's mostly people from out of town or who go to boarding schools, I'm only here because my father has a business deal going with the guy that's throwing the party."

Lorelai nodded in comprehension. Plastering a smile on her face she turned to look up at Tristan. It would be best if this conversation stopped right now. "I wanna do shots," she said, leaning seductively into him. Leaning back again, she smiled at him again, and winked, before moving off to find the drinks table. She had no doubts that he would be right behind her.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Jess was sitting on a set of couches with Rory's old friends from Boston. Everyone around him was completely wasted, and while he himself was not, he did have a nice buzz forming. Smiling at something Brooke was saying to him Jess quickly scanned the crowd for Rory.

Seeing her one the dance floor dancing suggestively with some blonde guy, Jess mentally shrugged. So long as she wasn't lying in a gutter he didn't really mind what she did. There weren't many sordid pasts that could shock him, and he doubted Lorelai Hayden's was an exception. He didn't judge.

"So," began Mike, directing his new line of questioning at Jess. "You're from New York right?"

"Yeah," replied Jess. It wasn't that he didn't like Rory's friends from Boston, they seemed like decent people. A little shallow, sure, but decent enough. He just wasn't going to volunteer any information unless actually asked. Anyway, Jess had no doubts that this conversation would be forgotten by morning – Rory's friends were apparently the drug taking type, didn't really bode well for memory recognition.

"Stars Hollow must be a bit of a culture shock to you," continued Austin, prompting Jess for more information. Jess simply raised his eyebrows slightly, forcing Austin to expand his question. "I mean, Lori has told us a bit about the place. Not much mind you, but enough to assume it looks like something out of a Pottery Barn catalogue."

At that Jess let out a chuckle. "You're not wrong man," he volunteered. "I hated the place when I first moved there. Did everything I could to make life difficult for everyone around me."

"But now?" Asked Brooke curiously.

"Now," shrugged Jess, "well, now I just exist. I don't go out of my way to make trouble, but I don't go out of my way to be the perfect Stars Hollow teenager either. I'm glad that Lorelai has shown up though, it'll be nice to have somewhat of a kindred spirit in Stars Hollow."

The three nodded, satisfied with Jess' answers to their questions.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Lorelai Hayden woke up the next morning with a throbbing headache. This was one thing she was not going to miss – throbbing headaches three or four mornings a week.

"We have to stop meeting like this Ms. Hayden," mumbled a voice sleepily beside her as she shifted slightly. Lorelai chuckled slightly.

"I dunno Mr. Dugrey, I don't mind out meetings," whispered Lorelai.

Chuckling himself, Tristan put an arm around her waist and pulled her against him.

"Sleep now," he mumbled again.

"Can't," replied Lorelai, "I gotta find my friend and get home. It was a miracle my mother didn't insist on me being home last night. She's new at this," she added sarcastically.

"Surely you don't have to leave right now," said Tristan again, holding her tightly against his chest.

"Ah, but I do. Don't bother getting up, you sleep," said Lorelai as she untangled herself from Tristan's arms and looked around for her shirt. Locating her clothes, she pulled them on and walked out into the living room.

"Morning Rore," said Jess as she entered the main room. She smiled at him in response.

"Shall we get going?" Asked Rory, "Lorelai will be waiting for our return. I'm assuming the earlier the better as far as she is concerned."

"You're probably right," replied Jess, shrugging his shoulders slightly and chuckling.

"What is the time?"

Jess glanced at his watch. "9:23am," he replied.

Rory nodded and started to head towards the front door, motioning for Jess to follow. "How long have you been up for?" She asked.

"Not long actually, I pretty much just walked out to find water when you did. Which I never did find." He frowned slightly to himself.

"I keep bottled water in my car."

"Of course you do," laughed Jess, half to himself, as they reached Rory's car.

Rory smiled but didn't reply as she slid into the driver's seat of her Ferrari. Looking somewhat wistfully up at the house in front of her, she whispered quietly, "Goodbye Lorelai Hayden."

Jess sat beside her awkwardly, wondering if he should or shouldn't say something to her, anything, but she spoke again before he could decide on a course of action.

"Water," she offered, handing him a bottle and snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Thanks," he replied.

Rory nodded, her mind a million miles away, and put her car into reverse before pulling out onto the road and beginning the trip back to Stars Hollow.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: So, I'm not overly sure what I think of this chapter - I found it really hard to write. I wanted to get a certain part of Rory Gilmore/Lorelai Hayden across, but I'm not sure how well I did that.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed it at least a little bit! Please please please review - and remember, anyone who reviews will get a sneak peek of the next chapter, like normal. Except now that I am back at constant internet access I will be much more prompt with the review replies!**

**So - remember to REVIEW!!**

**Avery xoxo**


	8. Back to Stars Hollow and Lorelai Gilmore

**_DISCLAIMER: I own nothing..._**

**Chapter Eight:**

Rory pulled up in front of her mother's garage and got out of the car to open the garage door. Jess sighed. Rory had been quiet the entire trip, ever since she had whispered 'Goodbye Lorelai Hayden' in front of the house before they left that morning. He didn't want to force her to talk about anything, hell, he wasn't really the talking type himself. As far as he was concerned, the less feelings involved in things, the better. But he at least wanted to make sure she was okay before she went inside and had to face Lorelai.

Rory slid back into the car and pulled her door shut as she drove forwards to park her car in the garage, away from the prying eyes of the residents of Stars Hollow.

"Rore," started Jess as they both got out of the car. "You okay? I mean…" Jess trailed off, not knowing quite what to say next.

Rory looked at him, her face void of almost all emotion.

"I'm fine," she replied, looking down at her hands which where resting in her lap. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "Look, I'll talk to you later okay? Might stop by the diner." She offered a small smile, hoping it would convince Jess that she was okay.

Jess nodded, taking her response as an indication that she was okay, or at least okay enough to deal with Lorelai Gilmore.

"See you later then," he said as he walked out of the garage and started to make his way back to Luke's diner.

Rory walked slowly from the garage to the porch steps in front of her mother's house. Once she reached the steps she sat down. She was torn at the moment as to what direction she wanted her life to go in. On one hand, she had the option to walk into her mother's house, and to give having a fresh start a real go. She could refocus herself on her studies, and forge the bond that she had never really had with her mother. On the other hand, she could refuse to go along with the plan her parents had concocted. She could go back to her life, go back to partying every night, not having a care in the world, just hanging out with her friends.

Rory sighed. She knew which option she was going to choose. Her life at the moment was not carefree, and the friends that she had in Boston were not her best friends. She closed her eyes momentarily and swallowed, pushing the thought of her four best friends from her mind.

She knew she was going to go inside and give life as Rory Gilmore a go. She didn't really have a choice, but if she did she probably would have chosen the way her parents did for her anyway. Not that she was planning on making life easy for all those around her, Rory doubted her parents would trust her if she did a complete 180 change and became an angel. Odds are they would get suspicious and go out of their way to find out what she was up to. Rory chuckled at the thought.

No, she'd ease them into it. Every day, every week she would become a little more like they wanted her to be, almost as though she was slowing, but finally, accepting her fate.

"Rory, is that you," called Lorelai from within the house.

"Yeah, it is," called Rory back, standing up from her position on the porch step. Lorelai Gilmore appeared at the front door.

"I thought I heard something out here," she replied, almost to herself. "Did you want some coffee?"

"Sure," answered Rory, moving to follow her mother inside as she turned and headed for the kitchen.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"Mom," called Rory from her room. "What are we doing for lunch?"

Lorelai walked to her daughters door and leant on the doorframe, attempting to evaluate her daughter. Rory had been switching between an angel and a devil all morning, sometimes ignoring her, other times being the perfect daughter.

"I'm not sure," replied Lorelai cautiously. She didn't want to set Rory off into another of her icy moods. Lorelai sighed internally. She couldn't go on like this much longer, walking on eggshells in her own house. It was as though her daughter had two personalities, and Lorelai was positive that she only like one of them. "I was thinking Luke's, maybe head over in an hour or so?"

"Sure, hey, do you mind if I head over earlier and hang out with Jess?"

"Oh course," answered a slightly surprised Lorelai. "You guys are getting along really well aren't you?"

"Yeah we are, it's really nice to have a friend here and all."

Lorelai nodded, agreeing with her daughter. As she turned to walk out the door she hesitated, and, deciding it was a good time to bring up the topic she had in mind, turned back around.

"Rory," she started again hesitantly.

"Yeah?" asked Rory, her attention now on the book she had been reading earlier.

"About your hair."

"There aren't any good salons around here are there? Or am I pushing my luck?"

"No, Stars Hollow isn't known for it's exclusive boutiques and salons," replied Lorelai sarcastically. She mentally kicked herself, she had been trying to be so nice and instead she comes back with a sarcastic remark when her daughter asks her about hairdressers.

Rory simply looked at Lorelai and raised her eyebrows.

"I think you should go back to your natural colour honey," continued Lorelai, her voice softer this time.

"You think I should dye my hair back to my natural colour?" repeated Rory slowly, holding out a piece of her hair, as if offering it as evidence. "I just had this redone, do you have any idea how much this cost me?"

"Not really," answered Lorelai curtly, starting to get sick of the little game she seemed to be constantly playing with her daughter. "And I don't really want to know either. Besides, I'm sure it wasn't you who paid for it, was it now."

"Touché," was the only replied Lorelai received for her last comment.

"Rory," said Lorelai in a slightly exasperated tone.

Rory let out a massive sigh as she closed her book and got off her bed. Picking up her wallet off her dressing table, Rory walked to the door, to where Lorelai was standing.

"Look," she said, as she paused at her mother before leaving the bedroom. "I'll think about it okay? I'm going to the diner now, I'll see you later."

Before Lorelai could say another word, Rory flounced out of her bedroom and around to the front door. Lorelai looked into the recently vacated room.

"At least she said she'd think about it," she muttered to herself as she turned and went back into the kitchen to make herself another cup of coffee before lunch.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory slid her sunglasses onto her face as she walked down the streets of Stars Hollow. Truth be told, she didn't think Lorelai's suggestion that she dye her hair back to it's natural coffee brown was such a bad idea, after all, everyone knew Lorelai Hayden as the bleach blonde type. Brown hair might just aid her in going somewhat unrecognised.

She sighed as she turned onto the street the diner was on. That was her aim come tomorrow, to go unrecognised. If she was to dye her hair back to brown and leave it straight, it was doubtful she would look much at all like the infamous Lorelai Hayden that everyone knew. Suddenly she was glad of her tendency to wear quite a lot of make up. Plus, hadn't her own parents pointed out that the pictures of her which had been spread around the magazines and newspapers weren't good ones of her face? The main thing people associated with her was her hair.

Remembering back to Friday when she had popped into the local shop before meeting her parents at the diner Rory let out a chuckle. Even the shop hand hadn't recognised her and had gone as far as insulting her right to her face, albeit oblivious to the fact it was her he was insulting. Though Rory wasn't overly convinced she could use that as proof she could disguise herself, he hadn't really looked like the sharpest crayon in the box.

"Jess," she exclaimed jovially as she opened the front door of Luke's diner.

"Hey Rore," replied Jess as he placed a cup of coffee in front of a customer. "Take a seat at the counter if you want, I'll be with you in a second."

Rory nodded and took Jess' advice, positioning herself near the till at the counter while he served a customer.

"So," began Jess as he returned behind the counter. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"Bored, sick of Lorelai constantly being there, thought I'd go for a walk. Plus, I wanted to apologise for this morning, I wasn't really myself when I last saw you."

"No harm," replied Jess flippantly.

"So, you met my friends from Boston last night," started Rory.

"No offense Rore, they're nice enough people and all, but I didn't really like them," said Jess cautiously. The last thing he wanted to do was start a rift between him and Rory, he was starting to really enough her friendship. To Jess' surprise, Rory just smiled.

"Me either," she admitted. "Well, I mean I do like them, but I don't really like them, if you know what I mean. God, I'm not really making much sense."

"Nah, I understand what you're saying," replied Jess. "But if you feel that way why were you friends with them? I mean, why did you hang out with them?"

Rory stared at the counter in response to Jess' last question.

"Maybe one day I'll tell you," she whispered.

Shit, thought Jess to himself, this is exactly what he was trying to avoid. There was obviously something that Rory didn't want to talk about, and he didn't want to be the one constantly reminding her of whatever it was. He decided that changing the topic was the safest bet.

"Sick of Lorelai, hey?"

Rory sighed.

"Not so much sick of her, I just need my own space sometimes. I feel as though I am under 24hr surveillance."

"She did let you go to the party last night, and agreed to you staying in Hartford though," pointed out Jess rationally.

"I know," replied Rory, "which is why I feel kind of bad getting annoyed with her, but it feels as though she is trying to make up for that by making sure I am never out of her sight again."

"Yet you're here," stated Jess, trying to suppress laughter.

Rory glared at him, then shook her head somewhat dejectedly. "I didn't really give her a chance to object to my coming here and meeting her here later. It's all in the way I word things."

"Fair enough."

"Her latest 'idea' concerning me has to do with my hair," Rory told Jess. Jess just raised his eyebrows in response. This could be interesting.

"Anyway," continued Rory, "apparently it would be in my best interests to dye my hair back to my natural colour, which by the way is a light coffee brown. Bleach blonde hair supposedly draws too much attention."

"And you don't want to?" guessed Jess.

"No, it's not that I don't want to, I mean, I see her point. I had actually considered the fact myself, I mean all the pictures and everything of me that have been causing such problems don't show my face very well, but my hair is like a trademark. If I was going to go somewhat unnoticed by people at Chilton, and have a real chance at a fresh start, then reverting back to my natural hair colour would be a good idea."

"So you're annoyed at Lorelai why?" Asked Jess, not quite seeing the problem.

"The fact that she had the nerve to suggest it," stated Rory as though it was the most obvious thing in the word.

Jess let out a chuckle, which he had tried to suppress, but had not been at all successful.

"Sorry," replied Jess, trying to straighten his face.

"I know I sound completely irrational," replied Rory, flopping her head into her arms on the counter, "but it's just starting to bug me that she thinks she has the right to tell me to change my hair. I mean, her and dad already changed my name, my school, pretty much my entire life without consulting me, is there nothing that is going to be left to my discretion?"

"I get where you're coming from, but hasn't everything turned out okay?"

Rory lifted her head from her arms and raised her eyebrows at Jess.

"It's the principle of the matter," she replied curtly.

"Speak of the devil and the devil doth appear," quoted Jess.

"Huh?" was Rory's only reply.

"Lorelai is about to walk in the front door," translated Jess before turning to fill two of their largest coffee cups. "Here you are, coffee for you and Lorelai. Hey, don't be too harsh on her okay? She is trying."

Rory nodded as Jess walked away to serve another customer.

"Hey Rory," said Lorelai tentatively as she approached the counter. "Look, about this morning…"

Rory cut her mother off by holding up her hand.

"Mom, can we do this later?" She replied quickly. Rory caught the hurt expression that flashed across Lorelai's face and took a deep breath. "At home?" she replied more softly so as not to give Lorelai the wrong impression about the type of mood she was in.

Lorelai nodded her consent, and instead turned and picked up the second coffee cup that Jess had filled just moments before.

"So," started Lorelai, wanting to break the silence which had formed between her and her daughter. "Nice weather we are having here isn't it."

Rory simply raised her eyebrows and looked at her mother as though she had gone completely crazy. Shaking her head slightly she turned back towards her own cup of coffee.

"Great weather," she whispered into her mug, so quietly that Lorelai almost missed what she had said.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory took a deep breath and got up off her bed. It was now or never. Lorelai wasn't going to give up on the conversation from this morning, and at least if she brought it up now, she would be more ready and would feel as though she had slightly more control over the situation.

"Mom," started Rory tentatively, walking from her room into the kitchen. Lorelai was sitting at the kitchen table, her back to Rory.

Lorelai closed her eyes momentarily before answering her daughter. Lunch had gone from bad to worse, with Rory barely speaking two words to her the entire time. She had looked somewhat bored, sitting at the table, glancing around, playing with her food. Lorelai turned in her seat to face her daughter.

"Yes," she asked.

"About this morning's conversation," replied Rory. "I'm ready to talk now."

"Okay, I stand by what I said."

"Jesus, I'm trying here, you could at least not be so blunt about it," answered Rory, getting annoyed at her mother's inability to be moved on this topic. It wasn't that Rory didn't agree with Lorelai on this one, she did, but she didn't want Lorelai to think she had won. When Rory had played out this scene in her mind it had gone very differently. In her mind Lorelai had apologised profusely, and told her she did not have to change her hair if she did not want to. To which Rory had replied that she did want to, but for her own reasons, etc.

"Look Rory, we can have this conversations now if you would like, but I am not going to back down this time. I have told you my opinion, and that isn't going to change."

"Yeah, well there are ways to say that without being rude."

Lorelai looked at her daughter, an incredulous look forming on her face. Had Rory really just berated her on being rude? Anger started to bubble inside of her.

"You want to talk about being rude young lady? You barely said two words to me at lunch today. You're surly one minute but happy the next, and to tell you the truth, I'm sick of it. Things are going to have to change if you're going to live here Rory. I won't put up with being treated like that in my own house."

Lorelai closed her eyes momentarily, ashamed at her outburst. She hadn't meant to come down so hard on Rory, it had just happened. The way she had just spoken to her daughter was similar to the way Emily Gilmore spoke to people.

"Rory, I'm sorry," replied Lorelai in a softer voice.

Rory just stared at her mother, her mouth set in a firm and unwavering line.

"So you didn't mean it?" asked Rory, challenging her mother.

"No," replied Lorelai, not wanting to be forced into backing down. She knew that if she backed down now and told Rory she didn't mean what she had just said things would start to get uncontrollable. Rory would start to know that she could always get her own way. "I did mean it Rory, I meant exactly what I said. What I am apologising for is the tone in which I said it. The way that I said it."

Rory looked at her mother for a moment, evaluating her. Then she slowly nodded her head.

"Okay."

"Okay?" questioned Lorelai, surprised at the ease to which Rory had conceded.

"Okay," repeated Rory. "But, about this morning."

Lorelai felt her shoulders drop, of course this wouldn't have been that easy.

"I am going to dye my hair," started Rory.

Lorelai went to interrupt, elated at the sudden change in the direction of the conversation. Rory held up her hand in order to silence her mother so she could finish talking.

"There is a but," she said once Lorelai had quietened again. "You can't just tell me like you did this morning to dye my hair. That isn't your right. You can suggest things, sure. But you can't demand those type of things to me and expect me just to go along with it. I had considered before this morning changing the colour of my hair back to what it use to be, so the only thing that annoyed me was the way in which you broached the subject with me. It is my hair, and if I chose to keep it how it is now, then that is something you would have had to deal with."

"I'm your mother Rory, and you are living in my house. Now I know we haven't lived together before, and I haven't had a great deal of experience at being a mother, but I know it goes both ways. If you want my respect, you in turn have to respect me."

"Okay."

"Okay, as in, we are going to start respecting each other?" asked Lorelai hopefully.

"Okay, as in, I have heard what you said. Now, if you will excuse me, I have some things to do before school starts tomorrow," replied Rory as she turned and walked into her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Leaning against the back of the door, Rory sighed. That conversation had not in any way gone how she had hoped it would. Grabbing her wallet off her dresser, Rory turned towards her door, about to walk out. Changing her mind, she turned back to face her room. The last thing she felt like doing was walking past Lorelai right now. As her eyes settled on her window, a small smile spread across Rory's face. Just because she was going to try and turn her life around didn't mean she couldn't use the window as an occasional escape route did it?

On the other side of the door, Lorelai stared, dumbstruck, at the room in which her daughter had just retreated. She had no idea how the conversation they had just had had ended. Rory's last sentence had not told her whether she had actually taken into consideration what she had said, or whether she was just planning on ignoring everything.

Turning her body back around in her chair so that she was facing the kitchen table again, Lorelai let her head flop against the wood.

"Aargh," she muttered quietly to herself.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: So I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter - Rory's first day at Chilton is next! Though that chapter is turning out to be substantially longer than I planned on it being - so what I was going to put in next chapter might have to be split into two chapters, meaning there is everychance Rory and Tristan won't meet until chapter 10, or at least the end of chapter 9!**

**As per usual - those who review get a sneak peek of the next chapter so please please please review!! I really really do love getting reviews - it motivates to me write and update so much quicker :)**

**Remember to check my homepage for any pictures, updates on stories, etc!!**

**Hope everyone is having a good summer/winter!**

**Avery xoxo**


	9. Chilton Prepatory Academy: Part 1

**_DISCLAIMER: I own nothing..._**

**Chapter Nine:**

Lorelai and Rory sat in Lorelai's jeep outside Chilton Prepatory Academy on Monday morning.

"I remember it being smaller," Lorelai said, a frown crossing her face, "and less off with their heads."

Rory nodded in response. She had been to schools like Chilton her entire life, but this morning, sitting outside of Chilton with her mother, she was scared stiff. This was the moment when she would find out whether or not her attempts at a fresh start were going to work or not.

"What are you looking at?" asked Rory as she observed her mother leaning in towards the steering wheel and peering up and out if the front windscreen.

"I'm just trying to see if there is a hunchback up in that belltower," replied Lorelai seriously, in a way only she could.

"So," said Rory slowly. "How do I look?"

"You look amazing Rore," answered Lorelai. "You're gonna knock their socks off."

"But do I look enough like Rory Gilmore? Do I look enough NOT like Lorelai Hayden? Because what is the point of doing all of this if everyone knows me as Lorelai Hayden?"

"You look great kiddo. Your hair is back to normal, you're not wearing make-up, and you look ready to study. Just think positive, you can do this," replied Lorelai.

Rory nodded as she glanced nervously around. Lorelai felt her heart go out for her daughter. Since their talk yesterday afternoon Rory had been much more open and, for lack of a better term, nice. Not that she was at the stage of sharing everything with Lorelai, but she wasn't glowering from a corner either, so Lorelai was counting it as a success.

"Lets go in shall we?" suggested Lorelai.

"We are running pretty late," muttered Rory as she followed Lorelai's lead and jumped out of her mother's jeep.

"How was I to know the furry alarm clock wasn't going to purr on time?" asked Lorelai. "I'll have you know that I have not had my morning Luke's coffee because of that stupid alarm clock."

"So where do we go?" asked Rory, glancing sideways at her mother, hoping to prevent a rant about the furry alarm clock, as they walked into Chilton together.

"Ambrose building," replied Lorelai.

"Which is?" asked Rory

"The big, scary one?" offered Lorelai. "Maybe if we look around there will be a sign."

"Doubtful," replied Rory. "This looks like the type of place that frowns upon signs. More of a 'if you don't know where you're going, too bad' kind of vibe coming from it if you ask me."

Just as Lorelai was about to answer a man walked up to her.

"Are you lost?" he asked politely.

"Oh, yeah, we're looking for the headmaster's office," replied Lorelai. "The Ambrose building?"

"Right," he replied, chuckling slightly while motioning to his right. "Well, this is it right here. Go inside, make a left, down some stairs and the headmaster's office is right at the end of the hall."

"Great, thank you," replied Lorelai, smiling at the man in front of her. Rory continued to stand silently beside her mother, raising her eyebrows ever so slightly at Lorelai's antics.

As Lorelai and Rory were about to head off into the building the man had pointed at, he put him arm out, offering Lorelai his hand to shake.

"I'm Ian Jack," he introduced. "My daughter Julia goes to school here."

"Lorelai, Lorelai Gilmore. And this is my daughter Rory."

"Daughter, really," replied Ian, slight shock evident in his voice. "That's great. I mean, daughters are great, really."

Rory hid her mouth behind her hand, trying to suppress a giggle.

"We're big fans," answered Lorelai, blatantly flirting with Ian.

Rory nudged her mother from behind, motioning to her watch.

"So, is your husband around here?" asked Ian, his motives not at all subtle. "I'd love to meet him."

Rory rolled her eyes at the adults standing in front of her. If they didn't hurry up they were going to be late to meet the headmaster.

"Oh, I'm not married," replied Lorelai quickly. "I'd love to meet your wife though."

"I'm divorced," Ian answered very quickly.

"Shame," replied Lorelai, her voice not conveying any sympathy to the matter at all.

"Excuse me," interrupted Rory. "We really have to…" she trailed off, hoping her mother would understand what she was insinuating.

"Right," replied Lorelai, her daughter's voice breaking her out of the day dream she had been entertaining in her head. "We have to go and meet the headmaster, and I have to get back to work."

"Oh, well, where do you work?" called out Ian after them as Rory somewhat pulled her mother in the direction of the Ambrose building.

"An inn," Lorelai replied as Rory tugged her arm. "The Independence Inn, just outside of Stars Hollow. I run it."

"Well, it was very nice to meet you Lorelai. And you too Rory. I'll tell Julia to look out for you."

"Thank you," replied Rory.

Ian turned and walked away as Lorelai stayed rooted to the spot watching him.

"Mom," said Rory sharply, pointing again to her watch.

"I'm back, let's go," answered Lorelai, breaking out of her reverie, and turning to follow Rory into the Ambrose building.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"The headmaster will see you now," called out the stern voice of the headmaster's receptionist.

Lorelai looked at Rory who was seated beside her.

"Ready?" she asked.

"As I'll every be," replied Rory, standing from her seat.

Lorelai stood and followed her daughter through the large wooden doors into the headmaster's office.

"Ms. Gilmore, I'm Headmaster Charleston," said the headmaster to Lorelai after she had walked in the door.

"Hi," replied Lorelai. "It's really nice to see…"

Lorelai's voice trailed off as she glanced around the room and saw a person sitting on the leather couch. Lorelai's eyes widened as she realised that the person sitting the headmaster's office was none other than her mother, Emily Gilmore.

"Mom," said Lorelai in a shocked voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to wish my granddaughter luck on her first day at Chilton," replied Emily, as though her sitting in the headmaster's office at Chilton was the most natural thing in the world. "Rory, you look wonderful in that uniform."

Rory nodded, but stayed silent. This was her mother's mother. The other grandmother that she didn't see all that often. Rory knew that they were going to start weekly dinners, alternating between her Hayden grandparents and her Gilmore grandparents, but she wasn't as close with the Gilmore's as she was with the Hayden's. In fact, she barely saw the Gilmore's at all, whereas she saw the Hayden's all the time.

"Well, you didn't have to come all the way out here mom," said Lorelai in a voice that clearly showed she wanted her mother as far away from Chilton as possible.

"Nonsense, it gives me a chance to make sure that Hanlan here takes good care of Rory," replied Emily, sending a smile in Headmaster Charleston's direction.

"You're Hanlan?" questioned Lorelai to the headmaster, though already knowing the answer she was going to get.

"Yes, I am," replied the headmaster. "Your parents and I are quite good friends."

"Hanlan's wife Bitty and I are on the symphony fundraiser committee together," offered Emily, her arm around Rory's shoulders.

"Well that is good isn't it," replied Lorelai, her face sporting a look that suggested to Rory that her mother would rather be sliding down a splintery banister than here talking to the headmaster and her own mother.

"Well," started Rory, determined to finish the conversation her grandmother and the headmaster were having. "Grandma, it is very good to see you, but I am excited to start the school day…" Rory trailed off suggestively.

"Oh but of course," replied Emily Gilmore. "Well I don't think we should take up any more of your precious time. Hanlan it was lovely to see you again, give Bitty our love."

"Tell Richard I'll see his at the club Sunday," replied Headmaster Charleston, shaking Emily's hand and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Have a wonderful day Rory I want to hear all about it. Do you need a ride Lorelai?"

"No mother, I'm fine," replied Lorelai curtly. Rory shot Lorelai a sympathetic smile as she got up to leave with her mother. "It was very nice to meet you Headmaster Charleston, Rory, I'll see you this afternoon hun, I'll pick you up."

"Okay, bye mom," replied Rory.

Headmaster Charleston walked around from the front of his desk where he had been standing to his chair. Once Lorelai and Emily had left the room and the door had close, he started to talk to Rory.

"You are obviously a bright girl Miss Gilmore. Your grades, up until recently, have been impeccable. I am going to count these recent months as a glitch, which will not happen again."

"No sir, not at all," replied Rory, slightly bored by the man sitting in front of her.

"It had better now anyway. Chilton is the best of the best and only accepts the best of the best."

Rory sat in her chair and glanced down at her nails. She had taken off the French manicure finish that she had previously had on them last night, and covered them with a simple clear gloss. A couple were starting to chip. She sighed. So many times had she heard this speech. It wasn't like she ever really listened. In the world of high society one thing mattered, and that was your last name. Over the past few months she had had the exact same speech from her old headmaster so many times that she had lost count.

"Now your mother has filled me in on everything…" continued Headmaster Charleston.

"Everything?" inquired Rory, interrupting the headmaster.

"Yes, Miss Gilmore, everything. I am aware that you are in fact Lorelai Hayden, and of the circumstances that have led to you being here, attending Chilton. While we work very hard here at Chilton to accommodate people, and we have a lot of students from prominent families, you must not expect any special treatment. You are enrolled as Rory Gilmore, and you will be treated like any other student. I am the only person on campus who is aware of who you actually are, and that is the way it will stay, by request of your family."

Rory started to drown out the headmaster's voice. No special treatment. Yeah right, the fact that he was concealing who she actually was was special treatment in itself. Who did he think he was kidding? School such as Chilton were tripping over themselves to provide the children of prominent families with what they wanted.

Rory broke herself out of her thoughts and began listening to the headmaster again. It sounded to her as though he was about to finish his monologue.

"Chilton has very high standard. If you make it through you will receive one of the finest educations available. Take this to Miss James in the administration office across the hall."

Rory reached out her hand for the file that Headmaster Charleston was offering to her. Getting up from her seat, Rory grabbed her bag from the ground and started to walk towards the door. As she reached the door Headmaster Charleston started to talk again. Rory turned slightly to face him.

"Remember Miss Gilmore, shenanigans like you pulled at your last school will not be tolerated here."

Rory nodded and walked out of the doors. She glanced around the corridors and saw the doors to administration office across from her. Noticing that there was no one in the corridors Rory quickly opened her file and glanced at the contents.

There was not a single mention of the names Lorelai or Hayden in regards to her, and all of the school records from her school in Boston had had her name altered to Rory Gilmore.

Satisfied that her secret would be safe if some curious student working in the administration office got their hands of her file, Rory closed the cardboard file again and opened the doors to the administration office.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"I'm looking for Miss James," said Rory as she walked up to the main desk in the administration office.

"Name," replied the old lady sitting behind the desk in a dry tone.

"Rory Gilmore."

The lady, whom Rory assumed was Miss James, rifled through a collection of folders besides her until she found the one she was looking for.

"Fill this out please," she said in the exact same tone, and placed a pen and piece of paper in front of Rory on the desk. Picking up the file Rory had put down, she walked over to a student sitting at a desk in the corner and placed the file on the corner of the desk.

Rory watched the student sitting at the desk, curious as to what she would do with it. She knew how new students at schools such as these were perceived. People would want to know about her, and it was easier, if someone had an in with someone working in the administration office, to just read the file than to actually have to talk to her and ask her questions.

Sure enough, the girl at the desk picked up Rory's file, and, glancing around her, passed the file out the window to someone waiting in the garden bed when she thought no one was looking.

Rory shook her head, wondering just how pathetic the people at Chilton were going to be. Satisfied that there was nothing in the file that she would not want people knowing, Rory pretended she had not seen her file passed out the window, and went back to filling out the form.

Miss James walked back around behind the desk as Rory was finished filling out the form. Silently she pushed the piece of paper over to Miss James.

"Here is the dinging hall, the science hall, the theatre. Here's your locker number, here's your schedule, take this map. Here's the rules of the school, the Chilton honour code. Here are the words to the school song, which must be recited upon demand. This can happen any place any time. If you do it in Latin you get extra credit, do you have any questions?"

Rory raised her eyebrows. Miss James had just said all of that to her talking quite quickly, but what amazed Rory the most was that she managed to keep her voice in the same tone and same note the entire time she was talking. Weird lady.

"No at the moment," replied Rory.

"If you do you can make an appointment to see your guidance counsellor Mr. Winters, he handles everything except bulimia and pregnancy. For that you'll have to go to the nurse, or coach Rubins. Welcome to Chilton."

Rory nodded her head and turned to go and find her locker. Miss James had not seemed very welcoming at all. Actually, she had seemed as though she hated her job, and couldn't care less about the students.

Pushing the administration office and all it's contents from her mind, Rory focused on finding her locker.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: Hope everyone enjoys the chapter, and I'm very sorry that Tristan wasn't in this chapter! He was going to be - but then the chapter became so long that I felt the need to split it into two.**

**I hope to have the next chapter up again soon - but as I have said before, uni starts soon! Yeah!! (I'm getting REALLY bored!) So, other than final editing, the next chapter is pretty much ready to go.**

**Review and you get a sneak peek of chapter 10 - and the more reviews I get, the happier I feel and the quicker I post the next chapter (think of the incentive people!!)**

**Avery xoxo**


	10. Chilton Prepatory Academy: Part 2

**_DISCLAIMER: I own nothing..._**

**Chapter Ten:**

Standing in front of her locker, Rory looked around her at the students huddled in small groups talking before the bell rang. Sighing, she turned back towards her locker. She missed Steph, Colin, Finn and Logan. Feeling tears start to prick at the corners of her eyes, Rory angrily banished all thoughts of her former best friends from her mind. She was not going to cry on the first day of school, imagine the reputation that would get her.

"Stupid locker," she muttered to herself as she tried to open the obviously jammed door. "I'm sorry but you're going to open," she said to the locker. Great, she thought, now I'm talking to inanimate objects.

Yanking hard once more on the handle, the locker door finally swung open, sending Rory reeling backwards.

"Oof," she said as she hit something behind her. Turning to see what it was, she realised that she had not hit something, she had hit someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said to the girl she had run into. In turn the girl glared at her.

"I know who you are," said the girl menacingly.

"Oh really?" replied Rory nervously. The first bell hadn't even gone and already someone knew who she really was. Great.

"Yes, I do. You're Rory Gilmore, formerly of Boston. You may think you'll fit in here, but I have news for you. This school is my domain, the Franklin is my domain. I'm going to be valedictorian. So stay out of my way."

"Whoopee for you," replied Rory sarcastically, feeling relief that whoever this girl was, she did not know that she was really Lorelai Hayden. Mentally kicking herself for replying in a sarcastic manner, Rory tried to turn the situation around. She had to remember to be mellow, calm and naïve looking. This would only work if no one figured out who she was.

"I'm sorry," replied Rory, attempting to be sincere, "that was out of place."

"I'll say it was," answered the girl, her tone still menacing. "I'm Paris Gellar. Stay out of my way."

Great, thought Rory to herself. I haven't even been here five minutes and already I'm making enemies. This is feeling so much like I never left Boston.

Turning back to her locker, Rory started putting her books and bag away, and sorting out what she would need to take to her first class. English Literature. At least it was something she was good at.

"Dude," said a voice a couple of lockers down. Rory ignored it.

"So," came another voice. Rory glanced down the bay of lockers. A group of three guys were leaning against the lockers a little way down. Not paying them much attention, Rory returned her focus to her books.

"Lorelai Hayden," came the second voice again, with a laughing undertone. That got Rory's attention. She felt all the blood drain from her face, and her heart felt as though it was beating at twice it's normal rate.

"Leave it alone guys," replied a familiar voice in a tone that clearly let everyone listening know that the owner did not mind what the other guys were saying.

Surely not, thought Rory. Cautiously peeking back towards the group of guys Rory had her suspicions confirmed. Tristan Dugrey was standing there with two friends, one of which was holding a newspaper.

"Leave it alone," asked the first guy, his voice incredulous. "Tristan, man, it's on the front page of the Harford Courant. This makes you like, a legend man. I knew I should have gone to that party on Saturday night."

"So what was she like?" laughed the second boy, punching Tristan's arm.

Rory glanced towards the boys quickly, just in time to see Tristan smirk and shake his head slightly.

"A gentleman never tells," he replied in a cocky voice, his smirk never leaving his face.

All the blood that had returned to Rory's face quickly left again. There was something in that paper, something about her, and about Tristan. She needed to get her hands on a copy.

Just at that moment the bell rang, and Tristan's head snapped up. He met her eyes for just a second before she quickly lowered her face, hoping that she looked different enough for him not to notice her. After all, she had never met him when he was sober, maybe there was a chance.

Keeping her eyes in her locker, she pulled out her English Lit file. She held it still slightly in her locker, so that she could stand with her head facing her locker and not have to look out, at least until Tristan and his friends left.

She could hear sniggering as Tristan and his friends pushed themselves from the lockers there had been leaning against and started to walk to their first class. Unfortunately that involved walking straight past Rory.

"Looks like we have a new student," said Tristan, his voice slightly mocking. Rory closed her eyes, praying that he would keep walking so she wouldn't have to turn around. "What do you think boys?"

"I think she had better watch herself," came a haughty voice that unfortunately Rory could associate with the one and only Paris Gellar.

"Morning Paris," replied Tristan, his voice amused. "Picking on the new kids already? What do you say new girl, show us your face."

Rory cursed under her breath and slowly turned to face the group of people behind her. She worked to keep a somewhat shy look on her face and kept her gaze trained on the floor apart from a quick glance up at Paris and Tristan.

"I think we've got ourselves a Mary," laughed Tristan. Rory felt a rush of relief flood through her body. He hadn't recognised her, not yet at least. The feeling of relief was very quickly followed by one of anger as Rory saw the smirk on Tristan's face.

Mary? How dare he. He knew nothing about her, how dare he judge her in that way. Who did he think he was. Just as she was about to open her mouth and put him in his place, she remembered her goal here at Chilton. Stay inconspicuous. Have a fresh start. Being labelled a Mary here at Chilton was possibly the best thing that she could hope for. She would be left alone for the most part and could focus on her studies.

Best of all, no one would suspect that shy, bookish Rory Gilmore was really party girl Lorelai Hayden, not if the most popular boy in Chilton had labelled her a Mary. Keeping this in mind, Rory trained her eyes on the ground once more, praying that was all it would take for them to get sick of her and leave.

It worked, thankfully. Paris stalked off to her class, followed by two girls who Rory had not immediately noticed in the background. Then, with a laugh, Tristan left as well.

"Bye Mary," he teased as he walked down the corridor after Paris.

"It's Rory," she muttered as Tristan walked away.

Rory gritted her teeth together. She hated being called Mary. She was the last person anyone who knew her would think to label Mary. Taking a deep breath, Rory reminded herself again why being called Mary was going to be a good thing.

Pulling out her map, Rory started to search for her next class. Thankfully it was just down the hall, so at least she wouldn't be excessively late. Unfortunately it was the same door that Tristan, Paris and their friends had just walked into. This was going to be a very long school year.

By the time Rory had walked into the classroom and sat down at a seat, she had forgotten all about the newspaper Tristan and his friends had been holding earlier.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Lorelai walked into Luke's, glad she would finally be able to sit down and have a really good cup of coffee. Her day had sucked so far. What did her mother think gave her the right to just show up on Rory's first day of school like that?

"Coffee Luke," she sighed dramatically as she threw herself onto a stool at the counter and plonked her head against the wood.

"Lorelai, extra dramatics will not get you extra coffee," started Luke, pouring Lorelai a cup of coffee.

"I saw my mother today," replied Lorelai, as though it was explanation enough.

Luke grimaced. He had met Emily Gilmore once, and once had been more than enough.

"Lorelai, it's barely 10am, how on earth have you seen your mother already? Especially when you do your best to try and avoid her."

"That's where it get's interesting my friend," answered Lorelai in a voice that made Luke raise his eyebrows. "So Rory and I get to Chilton this morning, and all is going well. I meet this really nice man, really cute too, we find the headmaster's office without getting too lost. So all is well so far. Then we walk into the headmaster's office." Lorelai paused for dramatic effect before continuing. "And in the headmaster's office is none other than the one and only Emily Gilmore."

Luke's face contorted slightly at the mention of Lorelai's having met someone this morning, but he quickly managed to hide it.

"So your mother was at Chilton, what was she doing there?"

"Apparently," replied Lorelai in a frustrated voice, "she is very good friends with the headmaster and was just telling him to take good care of 'her' Rory." Lorelai raised her fingers and did quotation marks in the air when she was explaining how her mother had possessively spoken of Rory.

"I mean," continued Lorelai, not giving Luke a chance to speak. "I only just got Rory, you know. And I want her to be mine, just for a little while. But then my mother comes to Chilton and ambushes us." Lorelai's voice changed as she spoke, all of a sudden she was speaking very softly. Luke couldn't help but think of how defeated she sounded.

"Look…" started Luke, only to be interrupted by Lorelai's cell phone. "Out," he said straight away in a stern voice that left no room for interpretation.

"Fine, fine, fine," she replied, her dramatics returning. She placed a hand over her heart before she continued. "Just send the emotionally wounded lady out into the cruel harsh world."

Pointing to the door he raised his eyebrows, letting Lorelai know that he was serious. Getting up from her seat, Lorelai grabbed her phone and walked out the front door of Luke's. Glancing at caller id she answered happily.

"Hey Chris."

"Lorelai, have you seen the paper's?" asked Chris as soon as Lorelai had finished talking. His voice sounded tense and annoyed.

"Not yet, I just go through dropping Rory off for her first day at Chilton."

"I thought this would be different, her living in Stars Hollow. But she's only been there for three nights, and still she's acting the same way she did in Boston," ranted Chris.

"Whoah, Chris. Slow down there," replied Lorelai, having no idea what Chris was talking about. "You're going to have to explain what you're going on about if you want this to be a two way conversation."

"What I'm talking about?" asked Chris over the phone, his voice disbelieving. "Did you not even notice your own daughter missing?"

"Chris, Rory is not missing. She is at school. You know, the place where the learning happens?" Lorelai removed her phone from her ear momentarily and stared at it, wondering if Chris had finally gone crazy. She put it back to her ear as Chris started talking again.

"I'm aware that you know where she is now Lorelai. But did you know she went to a party on Saturday night?"

"Yeah," replied Lorelai, confused as to how Chris knew Rory had gone out on Saturday night, and why he was so worked up about it. "She asked, so I let her."

"You let her?" thundered Chris into the phone. "I send our daughter to live with you because she is playing up. Partying all night, taking drugs, drinking until she passes out, ending up in all the newspaper society sections. So the second night that she is staying with you, she asks to go to a party and you just agree?"

"Chris," replied Lorelai, her voice angry. "You have no right to talk to me like that. Rory was dressed nicely and she went with a friend she made here is Stars Hollow. A decent boy that I have known now for quite a while. It wasn't like a Boston party, and she was home again the next morning, looking perfectly fine. Hey, how did you even know she went out?"

Chris sighed, knowing he shouldn't get angry at Lorelai. She hadn't done this before, and even if she did have previous experience with parenting, the way Rory had been acting the past few months was in a league of it's own. He had no right to judge her on her parenting of Rory considering he hadn't been able to control Rory when she had lived with him.

"I know about the party Lorelai because I'm reading a newspaper with pictures of our daughter in it at the moment. Oh, and a headline. Plus, I'm assuming she changed clothes, because I really do not want to think that what she is wearing in the pictures is what you deemed as appropriate."

Chris sighed again as there was only silence on the other end of the line.

"Lore?" he asked, hoping she was okay.

"Oh God Chris," she replied in a whisper. "I've only had her for a few days and already I'm failing."

"No you aren't Lore. Look, this has been happening to me for the last three months, and there was nothing I could do about it. You're not a bad parent, Rory's just been hard to handle lately."

"Which one?" asked Lorelai, needing to see the pictures and the article.

"Excuse me?" asked Chris, not sure what Lorelai was referring to anymore.

"Which newspaper is she in?" repeated Lorelai.

"Oh, The Hartford Courant and the Boston Globe," replied Chris, shaking his head at himself for not realising she was talking about newspapers.

"Two?" asked Lorelai, her voice conveying shock.

"That I know of," started Chris. Sighing he continued. "The Hartford Courant has the big pictures and headline, The Boston Globe only has a little piece and a small picture. I'm fairly sure that they would be the only ones with the article. Hartford because that is where she was, and Boston because she's been in the papers here for the last three months."

"I gotta go Chris. I've got to go and get those papers. Look, I'll call you back once I've read them so I know what we are dealing with, okay?"

"Sure thing Lore," replied Chris. "And Lore, remember, you aren't a bad mother."

"Thanks Chris," said Lorelai as she hung up the phone. Quickly walking back into Luke's she drained her cup of coffee and held out money to Luke to pay for it.

"Is everything okay?" asked Luke, concerned at the way Lorelai was rushing out of the diner.

"Yeah," she replied. "I just have to do some things."

"Don't worry about it," replied Luke, motioning towards the money she was offering. "This one's on the house because you managed to limit yourself to only one."

"Thanks," replied Lorelai softly with a smile before she rushed out and headed towards the market.

Walking into the market as quickly as her legs and Taylor Doose would permit her too, Lorelai sped to the magazine and paper section. Picking up a copy of both The Hartford Courant and The Boston Globe she walked to the cash register, fishing through her purse for money so she could pay as quickly as possible. All she wanted to do was get home and read these papers.

"Lorelai," called Dean from behind the cash register.

"Hi Dean," replied Lorelai politely. "Just these two thanks," she continued, handing him a twenty.

Dean took the money and punched the sale into the register. As he was pulling her change from the till, Dean stopped suddenly, turning towards her and starting to talking much to Lorelai's dismay.

"So, I met your daughter the other day," he said casually. Lorelai had to stop herself from tapping her foot impatiently. "Nice girl," he continued. By this time he had completely stopped doing anything else, and was only standing there talking. "Do you think…"

"Dean," interrupted Lorelai impatiently, not caring how rude she was at the moment. "Please, I am in a rush. Could I just have my change so that I can go?"

"Uh, sure," replied Dean, handing over her change. Lorelai almost ran out the front door, leaving Dean at the cash register, wondering why she was acting so strangely.

"Lorelai Gilmore, do not run in my store," called Taylor Doose from the back as she bolted out the door.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"…and while French culture was the dominant outside cultural influence, especially for Russia's moneyed class, English culture also had it's impact. Tolstoy's favourite author for instance was…" The English Lit teacher trailed off, waiting for a student to answer his question.

Rory was sitting in the second row, amazed at how similar to her school in Boston Chilton really was. She knew the answer to the question the teacher was asking, it was Charles Dickens.

"Dickens," called out Paris from the front row. Rory raised her eyebrows, Paris hadn't been kidding when she had said she was gunning for valedictorian. She barely even waited for the teacher to point in her direction before she answered the question.

"Yes," continued the teacher, drawling on in a monotone voice. "And of course last week we covered Dostoevski's main authorial influences…"

"George Sand and Balzac." Paris again. Jeez, thought Rory to herself, is this girl on steroids?

"Good. As Tolstoy commenced writing both War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Count Leo would turn to…"

"David Copperfield." Did the girl ever let up?

"Correct. He would turn to David Copperfield for inspiration."

Rory looked in the direction of Paris Gellar. The girl hadn't been kidding when she had said the school was her domain and she was going to be valedictorian. What did she do, spend all night, every night holed up in her room with her books?

Realising the lesson was coming to an end and the teacher was starting to wrap up the lesson, Rory quickly tuned back in to what he was saying.

"Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, Little Dorrit, were all major influences on Leo Tolstoy. Tomorrow we will focus on the writing styles of these two literary masters, Tolstoy and Dickens."

A bell sounded in the corridor, and there was a soft flurry of movement as everyone in the class started to pack away their books.

"Class dismissed," droned the teacher. Rory bit back a snicker. What, did he think anyone in this room was going to stick around after that bell had sounded if he hadn't have dismissed them?

"Miss, um, Gilmore, would you come up here please?" called the teacher. Rory collected her things and walked to the front of the classroom. This was the worst thing about being new. Every single teacher felt the need to single you out. At least this one hadn't done it at the start of the lesson, in front of everyone. That gained him a few points.

"Here are last week's study materials. There'll be a test on them tomorrow, but since you're new, you can take a makeup on Monday. Will that be sufficient time?"

"Monday is fine sir," replied Rory, wanting to make a good impression on her teachers from the start.

"Good. That's just an overview. It would be very helpful to you to borrow one of the student's personal notes. They tend to be more detailed."

Rory nodded, noting the size of the binder the teacher had handed her. It was twice the size of any normal binder, but Rory was use to it from her old school in Boston. Elite prepatory academies expected nothing but the best from their students. She highly doubted she would find someone willing to share their notes with her. Paris seemed to be the person at Chilton that no one wanted to cross, and she certainly had something out for Rory.

Flipping through the front couple of pages of the binder as she walked out of the classroom and back to her locker, Rory felt a sigh of relief. The material in the binder was similar to that of which she had been studying recently in Boston. Granted her work ethic as of late had not been stellar, so not much actual learning had gone on, but she was sure she could get by.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory's last class of the day was history. Already she disliked this teacher. She had made her stand up in front of the entire class and introduce herself. So far today she had been the only teacher to do this.

"Let's try another passage," said the teacher from the front of the classroom. " 'The Romanists have, with great adroitness, drawn three walls round themselves, with which they have hitherto protected themselves, so that no one could reform them, whereby Christendom has fallen terribly.' How said this?"

Rory knew the answer to this question as well. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Paris leaning forward in her seat, about to answer the question. A sly smile spread across her face. Just because she was planning on staying out of trouble, didn't mean she couldn't challenge Paris a little, did it now? After all, part of what she had decided she was going to convey to the people at Chilton was the mannerisms of a bookworm, a young girl focused on her studies.

"Martin Luther," Rory called out before Paris had a chance to answer.

"Very good Miss Gilmore. And what year did Martin Luther address the Christian nobility?"

Seeing Paris lean forward in her seat again, and having noticed the reaction she got when she correctly answered the last question before Paris had a chance to, Rory called out the next answer.

"1520."

"Very good Miss Gilmore," repeated the teacher, looking somewhat impressed at the sudden change of form in Rory during the last five minutes of class. She had spent the entire class up until now slouched quietly in her seat, saying not a word.

The bell rang, signalling the end of Rory's first day a Chilton. She breathed a sigh of relief and started to pack up her books.

"Until next time class," said the teacher, and closed her own book as students started to file out the door.

Rory looked up, to find Paris standing in front of her deck, glowering at her.

"Stay out of my way," she threatened lividly. "Or I will make this school a living hell for you."

Rory smiled to herself as Paris walked out the classroom door. At least this was going to give her something to keep herself entertained with over the next however long she was here. She made it her personal goal to level with, if not beat, Paris Gellar. After all, if nothing else, the look on Paris' face when someone answered a question before her was highly amusing.

"See you tomorrow, Mary," smirked Tristan as he left the classroom.

"The name is Rory," she muttered again, knowing it would make no difference.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: So I hope everyone liked this next installment to The Challenges Life Brings!**

**Uni has been absolutely crazy - which is why this chapter is a little bit later than I originally said it would be :) I'm hoping to have the next chapter up within two weeks, but, unfortunately, university work must take precident!!!**

**Once I have more of an idea when things will be happening, next chapter, etc, I will post details on my homepage.**

**As per usual - everyone who reviews will recieve a sneak peek of the chapter 11!! Chapter 11 involves Chris, Lorelai and Rory....... if you want to know more, REVIEW!!**

**Hope everyone is having a good time doing whatever it is they are doing!!**

**Avery xoxo**


	11. Front Page Stories

**_DISCLAIMER: I own nothing..._**

**Chapter Eleven:**

"Mom," called Rory as she walked out of the Chilton building and saw her mother sitting by her car.

Lorelai lifted her head and smiled at her daughter.

"I brought coffee," she said as Rory made it closer to her.

Lorelai had decided not to bring up anything about the papers until they were home. She had spoken to Chris again that afternoon after reading the articles concerning Rory, and they had decided to confront her together. Chris had driven down from Boston, and was waiting for them both at Lorelai's house until they got back from Hartford.

"Surprise surprise," replied Rory happily. Oddly enough, she was in a good mood, and was happy to see her mother.

"Triple caf, so if that doesn't work, we can stick our finger's in light sockets," laughed Lorelai, wanting to make the most of happy Rory before they got back to her house and had to confront her.

Rory nodded her head solemnly, pretending to contemplate the idea of sticking her finger into a light socket. Accepting the large steaming cup of coffee that her mother handed her, Rory walked around to the passenger seat of the Jeep and jumped in.

"So, how was your first day?" asked Lorelai as she jumped in and started the car.

"Fine," replied Rory. "I've already made a couple of enemies," she joked.

"Enemies? On your first day? My my, I am proud," joked Lorelai back. "But seriously, what did you do to make enemies on your first day?"

"I think it was my existence," answered Rory. Seeing the confused look on her mother's face, Rory offered more explanation. "One girl, who had a couple of sidekicks, warned me that she was going to be valedictorian, this was her school, blah, blah, blah."

"Oh no," interrupted Lorelai, feeling sympathy for her daughter already. "Angry chick's are the worst."

"I know. I don't think she would really hate me to the degree I am sure she does now though, if I had not deliberately antagonised her in our last class," replied Rory, a slightly guilty look gracing her features.

"You deliberately antagonised the angry chick?" asked Lorelai in a disbelieving voice. "And here I thought you were smart."

"Ha ha Mom, very funny. I simply beat her to a couple of questions."

"How angry was she?"

"Fourteen shades of purple," answered Rory simply.

"Cool huh," laughed Lorelai.

"There was this other guy as well, who has taken it upon himself to label me the school's Mary."

"Seriously?" asked Lorelai, her eyebrows raised.

"Hey, I could be mildly insulted by that reaction," retorted Rory, her eyes dancing, letting Lorelai know she wasn't really offended.

"I'm sorry hun, and I'm not meaning to imply anything in the other direction here, but you aren't the type to be label a Mary," replied Lorelai, laughter evident in her voice.

"I know, and it annoys me so much," replied Rory, slightly more serious. "But there isn't really anything I can do about it without ruining my fresh start now is there?"

"Smart thinking," replied Lorelai, sinking into her own thoughts.

Rory seemed to be happy at the moment, and set upon having a new start. She was letting some guy go around and called her Mary in front of the whole school just because she didn't want to ruin her fresh start. Surely that meant something? Thinking back to the pictures and article she had seen earlier that day in the papers Lorelai felt her heart drop again. It was as though there were two different Rorys and they were contradicting each other. She wasn't quite sure how to deal with it.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Lorelai pulled the jeep into her driveway, and noticed that Chris' car was not where it had been when she had left. She sighed. Odds were he had moved it so that Rory wouldn't be able to see he was there until she got inside.

All of a sudden Lorelai started to dread going inside. The entire car trip home she and Rory had spoken, nicely, and Lorelai felt they were really starting to connect. If only Rory's picture hadn't ended up in the papers, then none of this would be happening now.

Rory, oblivious to what awaited her inside, grinned as she bounded out of the car and made her way across the lawn to the porch steps. Once she reached them, she turned around and glanced questionably at her mother, who was still lingering at the jeep.

"You coming?" she questioned, not putting too much thought into her mother's odd behaviour.

Lorelai glanced up at her daughter and tried to put the happy smiling face from her mind. Instead she focused on the articles she had read in the papers.

"Yep," she replied as she followed Rory inside.

Rory walked into the kitchen, intent of putting her school bag in her bedroom and starting a very large pot of coffee. Instead she saw her father sitting at the kitchen table. A smile once again spread across her face. She knew she was still meant to be acting the part of the sullen teenager, but she had had a really great trip home with Lorelai, and was glad to see her father again. Though she wouldn't admit it out loud, she really missed living with him.

"Daddy," she called gladly as he came into her line of sight. Dropping her bag on the floor, she walked over to the kitchen table and went to give her father a hug. Chris just sat there, his eyes closed. He loved his daughter more than anything in the world, and had missed her terribly over the past few days, but at the moment the best thing for her was for him to stay the disappointed parent.

Rory frowned slightly as she pulled away from the hug. Her father had just sat there, not at all acknowledging the fact that she was even in the room, let alone the face that she had just greeted him and given him a hug. It was like hugging a statue.

Without saying a word, Chris pushed one of the newspapers across the table so that Rory could see the real reason that her was here in Stars Hollow.

Lorelai stood in the doorway of the kitchen, willing herself not to let tears form in her eyes. It wouldn't do any good for Rory to see her upset right now. She had to stay void of any emotions except disappointment and anger.

Rory glanced at the paper Chris had just pushed towards her, and felt her entire world come crashing down around her. Sitting herself at the table, she stared at the newspaper, as though in shock.

This is what Tristan and his friends had been looking at that morning. This was the thing she had meant to find out about, but had completely forgotten in the bustle of her first day.

"Oh no," she said softly, still slightly in shock.

"Oh no is right," replied Chris, his voice hard and cold.

Rory glanced quickly at her father, and seeing the look of complete disappointment in his eyes, returned her eyes to the paper she had in front of her. As per usual, there was a headline, and the usual stuff in the article. Who she was, who her grandparents where, her father etc. But it was the picture that most shocked her.

The picture that she didn't remember being taken. The Hartford Courant had a large, colour picture of her and Tristan from the party on Saturday night. They were on a balcony, and the picture had obviously been taken by a photographer on the ground. She was pushed up against a wall and they were making out, with Tristan's hand up her shirt. Rory grimaced. She didn't even remember being on a balcony.

"What, no explanations? No excuses?" asked Chris, his voice unchanged.

"I don't, I didn't," Rory didn't know what to say, how to continue her sentence.

"You lied to me," said Lorelai softly, but in a voice that harboured a great deal of disappointment, as she moved to stand behind Chris. Rory wasn't sure which was worse, her mother's disappointment, or her father's cold anger.

"Well, not technically," replied Rory meekly.

"Technically isn't the issue here Rory. You know why you are living here with your mother. You deliberately asked her if you could go to a party on Saturday night, when you knew I would not have agreed. You deliberately made it sound as though this party was completely innocent. No, you're right, you didn't lie to your mother. You tricked her. And that is worse," snapped Chris.

Rory hung her head in shame. She hated disappointing her parents, though she knew it probably didn't seem that way, and at the same time, there was anger bubbling up inside her. She had wanted one last chance to be Lorelai Hayden before they stuck her in a world where she had to constantly pretend to be someone different. Her anger finally boiling over, she raised her head and stared her father straight in the eye.

"Maybe I wanted one last night of being myself Dad," said replied, emphasizing the word 'Dad' sarcastically. "Maybe I wanted one last night of seeing my friends, of being Lorelai Hayden, before you both stuck me in a world where I have to constantly be a person I'm not. Where I have to constantly be Rory Gilmore. Well guess what, I'm not Rory Gilmore. I'm Lorelai Hayden. But I've agreed to this without making nearly as much fuss as I could've. I've gone to Chilton and put up with people calling me Rory Gilmore all day, with people not knowing who I really am. All I wanted was one last night to be me," she yelled.

By the time she had finished, there were tears rolling down the sides of her face, but she didn't care. She wasn't going to take any of it back, she wanted him to listen, to know how she felt.

"Rory," started Lorelai softly, deciding a change of tact was needed. "You still tricked me. Regardless of your reasons."

"So you're saying you would have let me go and have one last night of being Lorelai Hayden had I told you the truth? If I'd have told you why I wanted to go out?" challenged Rory. Lorelai stayed silent, unable to think of anything to say. "That's what I thought," continued Rory, taking Lorelai's silence as a negative response to her question.

"What if someone from Chilton had seen you Rory?" asked Chris, his voice a normal volume level again. Rory winced, she decided she would have preferred the yelling to the sounds of disappointment and defeat in her father's voice. "You wouldn't have had the chance to have a fresh start. You didn't even think about that."

"Actually," replied Rory, not sure how much she should really admit. Figuring her parents would find out sooner or later, Rory decided just to tell them. "Someone from Chilton did see me."

"What?" interrupted Lorelai, shocked. "I thought you said earlier that everyone at Chilton believed you were Rory Gilmore, that no one recognised you as Lorelai Hayden."

"I did say that," replied Rory. "And I was telling the truth. No one did recognise me. But there were Chilton students there. Apparently without my hair done fancy and without make-up covering my face, not to mention the slightly change of colour in my hair, I don't quite look like me anymore."

"You do look different," replied Chris, softly now. "You look more like you use to."

Rory felt her heart warmed at her father's comment, but hid her emotions, not wanted Chris to know he had affected her in that way.

"I told you about him Mom," continued Rory.

"You most certainly did not," replied Lorelai indignantly. "She did not," she repeated to Chris, not wanting him to think that she was keeping secret from him in regard to their daughter.

"Yeah, actually I did. This afternoon. The guy who labelled me 'Mary'."

"That guy," answered Lorelai, very slowly, "labelled you Mary?"

Rory just nodded in response, not sure of how either of her parents would react to that news. Much to her shock, Lorelai burst out laughing.

"The guy from Saturday night, labelled _you_ May?" reiterated Lorelai, attempting to hold in laughter, and somewhat failing.

"Lore," scolded Chris. "How are you finding anything about this funny?"

"Chris, have you listened at all?" asked Lorelai, wanted her daughter's father to realise that maybe this time Rory had not meant to be malicious or conniving.

"You haven't been the one living with her for the last so many months Lorelai," he replied shortly.

Rory felt tears form in the corners of her eyes. Her father was talking about her as though she wasn't even there. Angrily banishing them, she put on a façade of boredom and spoke up.

"Well, on that cheery note, I believe I will go to my bedroom and start on my homework."

Rory turned and walked into her room, closing her door behind her. She didn't want to hear any more of what they were saying. She didn't want to hear her father talk about her like that.

Sighing, she walked over to her desk and started to pull out her homework. She may as well get started on it seeming she had nothing else to do.

Back out in the kitchen, Lorelai just stared at her childhood best friend, an incredulous look on her face. Her disbelief very quickly turned to annoyance, bordering on anger.

"What is your problem Chris?" she asked harshly.

"My problem?" replied Chris, his voice mirroring Lorelai's earlier disbelief. "My problem is the way our daughter has been acting for the last three months. My problem is the way her grades have dropped. My problem is the fact that she no longer loves going to school. My problem is that incredible change I have seen in her. That's my problem Lore."

Lorelai slumped her shoulders. She kept forgetting what Chris must have been through with their daughter. It hadn't even occurred to her that the worst part for him wouldn't have been the acting out, the drinking, the drugs, but the complete and abrupt change in her personality.

"Chris," Lorelai started hesitantly. "It's going to be okay."

Chris sent her a sceptical look.

"It will," she reassured. "We will not lose her Chris. We are going to get her back, no matter what it takes."

Chris sighed and nodded, wanting desperately to believe her.

"Want to come to Luke's and have dinner with us," Lorelai offered, a playful smile forming on her face.

Chris shook his head slightly.

"Sorry Lore," he replied. "I just can't face her at the moment."

Lorelai nodded, disappointed that this at least couldn't be resolved before Chris left.

"I just have to go back to Boston, I need time," he replied.

"We'll see you again soon?" asked Lorelai hopefully.

"Sure," Chris replied, smiling at the mother of his daughter.

A look formed on Lorelai's face that could only be described as a mixture of evilness and scheming.

"Next weekend," she said simply.

"Excuse me?" asked Chris, slightly confused, and not liking the look he saw on Lorelai's face.

"Next weekend," Lorelai started again. Seeing the confused look Chris still had on his face, she expanded. "Big happy _family_ dinner. Friday night."

Lorelai chuckled as she watched all the blood drain from Chris' face until he was chalk white.

"I'll call you with the details," she said happily, slapping her hand gently on Chris' shoulder as they both started to walk towards the front door.

Chris remained silent, just shuddering slightly. As they reached Chris' car, Lorelai turned to Chris, hoping he would reconsider having dinner with them.

"I can't Lore," he replied to her silent plea. "It just feels like every other time over the last few months. If I stayed and had dinner with you and Rory, one of two things could happen. Either I sit their glaring for the entire time or I pretend to no longer care and Rory thinks everything is good again. Everything isn't good again, and I'm sick of the constant disappointment."

"But," started Lorelai, interrupting Chris.

"Lore," he replied before she had the chance to go any further. "I love Rory, I really do. And nothing will ever change that. I just can't pretend everything is fine between us anymore."

Lorelai nodded in response, knowing it would take some time. After all, this was the first time she had had to deal with a situation like this first hand. But Chris, Chris had been dealing with this for the last three months. He had had to watch his little girl changes into a wild party girl, and there was nothing he could do about it, nothing that made a difference.

"Drive safe," said Lorelai softly, sending Chris an understanding smile as he got into his car.

"Thank you Lorelai. Thank you for everything."

Lorelai just nodded in response, not trusting her voice at that moment. She stood there and watched Chris as he reversed his car out of the driveway and drove off down the street.

Once he had disappeared from her sight she turned slowly and started to walk back to her house, wondering what on earth she was going to do now. Did she believe Rory that she had just wanted one last night to be Lorelai Hayden before becoming Rory Gilmore, or was this story, like so many others before it, just another ploy to placate her and Chris?

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory lay on her bed later that night, staring at her ceiling. She had been kicking herself all afternoon about the papers. How could she be so careless now? Her parents were right. She had come so close to screwing up the only chance she had left to start over, in a place where no one knew who she was.

Her father had left to return to Boston after he and Lorelai had finished talking, without even saying goodbye to her. That was what hurt the most. No matter what she did, Chris always said goodbye to her when he left.

Lorelai had sent her to her bedroom after Chris had left. Rory had never seen her mother so upset with her.

_**Flashback**_

_Rory heard the front door slam as her mother walked back into the house after seeing off her father. Tears welled up in eyes as she realised that Chris had left without even saying goodbye to her. She hadn't been expecting a massive hug and kiss, but a simply goodbye, or an 'I'm leaving now', would have been nice. _

"_Anything to say for yourself?" asked Lorelai as she walked back into the kitchen._

"_Not really," replied Rory in bratty voice, wanting to take her anger and hurt out on someone._

"_Okay, you've been acting like this since you moved in here, and as much as I am enjoying experiencing these ups and downs of motherhood, I've got to say I'm tired of Goofus and I'd like my Gallant back," snapped back Lorelai, annoyed with the tone Rory was taking with her once again._

"_You can't ever just say a normal sentence can you? Just 'Hey, lets talk' is too dull for you," said Rory meanly. Had her mother really just come up with a reference from a children's magazine. Rory frowned, offended. Goofus and Gallant were cartoon characters, always faced with the same situation. Goofus always took the irresponsible path while Gallant had always been nicer._

"_Hey, lets talk," snapped Lorelai sarcastically. _

"_About what? Why bother?" asked Rory angrily._

"_About what?" asked Lorelai in a disbelieving tone. "Your Dad and decided that you should come and live here for a reason Rory. You were out of control in Boston and we were hoping that it was either just a phase, or that it was something to do with something in Boston. But no, you come here, you lie to me and then go and act exactly like you have been for the last three months."_

"_I thought I'd explained that to you," yelled Rory from where she was still standing in her doorframe._

"_You did," replied Lorelai, her voice suddenly back at it's normal register. "You did explain Rory, but whether or not you had your reasons for doing what you did, you still lied. You still tricked me. And for what, to go to some party in Hartford thrown by some rich kid who thinks of nothing but how to best spend his parent's money? Well, I'm damn sick of it."_

"_What do you want me to say?" asked Rory sarcastically. _

"_I don't want you to say anything Rory," replied Lorelai, her voice raising again. What on earth did she have to do to try and get through to her daughter? "I want you to think before you act."_

"_Well you can't always have what you want," replied Rory sullenly. As she spoke, sudden memories of Logan, Colin and Finn leaving her and Steph flooded back into her mind. Pushing them aside once again, Rory steeled herself, refusing to become emotional in front of Lorelai._

"_You are impossible Rory. Your father and I are trying our hardest to do what is best for you, to help you. But guess what? There is only so much that we can do. Eventually you are going to have to wake up and realise that the way you are acting is downright stupid. And if you don't wake up damn soon then it's going to be too late."_

_Rory just stood there, staring at her mother with a lofty look upon her face, not speaking. _

_Eventually Lorelai sighed at the lack of response she was getting from her daughter. There was no point continuing this tonight, they weren't going to get anywhere._

"_Go to your room Rory. I don't want to see you again tonight," said Lorelai in a tone that called for no nonsense. "Oh, and by the way. You're grounded, for two weeks."_

_Rory looked at her mother and raised one eyebrow before turning and walking into her bedroom, slamming her door as hard as she could behind her._

"_Don't slam doors in this house young lady," yelled Lorelai angrily through the door._

_**End Flashback**_

She was grounded for the next two weeks, which she didn't mind so much. She had no plans on going to anymore parties anytime soon. But that also meant doing things around the town, which included hanging out with Jess, were also off limits. Rory knew she was lucky really, to have gotten off so lightly.

She knew she had pretty much ended up back at square one with her parents. Her father was even more disappointed with her than he had been when they had left Boston. Rory knew that Chris had hoped so much that Hartford would be the change she needed to get herself back on track and start acting more like she use to.

She had thought that she and Lorelai were going to be semi okay, but all of those thoughts had gone out the window once Chris had left and they had started yelling at each other. There was no way Lorelai was going to trust her again any time soon.

Growling to herself, she softly whacked herself on the head and began the guilt trip she had been putting herself through all over again.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Meanwhile, Lorelai sat on the couch in the lounge room, flipping unenthusiastically through the TV channels. Once deciding that there was absolutely nothing on TV that she even remotely wanted to watch, she turned off the TV and got off the couch. With a soft growl she turned and threw the remote at the chair.

Taking a deep breath, Lorelai smiled slightly. Throwing hard objects had made her feel slightly better at least.

Lorelai quickly glanced towards her daughter's bedroom. After staring momentarily at the closed door, she turned and started to make her way up the stairs. She knew she had probably been a little too hard on Rory earlier, but she couldn't bring herself to apologise yet.

Truth be told, she did understand Rory's reasons for wanting to go to the party in Hartford. She herself would have been furious if someone uprooted her entire life when she was a teenager and told her she had to change her name. All things considered Rory was taking the whole situation quite well.

Lorelai sighed, torn between wanting the best for Rory and not wanting to turn into her mother. Deciding it was a topic better thought about the next morning, Lorelai turned out the lights and threw herself dramatically onto her bed.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: So the Chapter 11 is finally here! I'm really enjoying writing this story at the moment!**

**Which means that although my usual goal/time limit on chapter updates is 2 weeks, depending on how much I get done - chapter 12 might just be up much sooner!!**

**And... as per usual - ALL REVIEWS GET A SNEAK PEEK!! And since review motive me even more to write... the more reviews I get, the more writing I do and the quicker I can update!!!**

**Avery xoxo**


	12. Francine and Straub

**_DISCLAMIER: I own nothing..._**

**Chapter Twelve:**

"Rory," called Lorelai playfully as she came down the stairs the next morning. "I'm up, ready for round two."

She held her breath for a moment, hoping that the argument she seemed to be in with Rory would have dissipated over the course of the night. Frowning slightly when she wasn't answered, Lorelai continued further towards her daughter's room.

"Rory?" she called again, questioningly. "You still alive kid?"

As she walked into the kitchen, still having been unanswered by Rory, Lorelai noticed a note on the table.

_Left for school early. Stopping by Granny and Gramps'. Rory._

Sighing again, Lorelai sat down at the kitchen table, letting her head rest in her hands. This was obviously not going to dissipate as easily as she had hoped.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory pulled her metallic baby blue Ferrari California GT into the driveway of a sprawling Hartford mansion. Looking up at the house which so many people would find incredibly intimidating, Rory felt a sense of peace and belonging.

She turned off her car and took in the sight of the largest mansion in Hartford. Letting out an ironic laugh, Rory thought about how it was that she felt more comfortable and at home here than she did in her own mother's house.

Getting out of her car, Rory went to the door and rang the doorbell. Smiling at the maid who answered the door, she introduced herself as Francine and Straub's granddaughter, and was lead into the dining room where they were just about to start eating their breakfast.

"Lorelai," called Francine happily as Rory walked around the corner into the dining room. "Why, it's so wonderful to see you. Please, sit down, have some breakfast with us."

"Thanks Granny, I'm starving actually," replied Rory, smiling a real smile for what felt like the first time in forever.

"Coffee Lorelai?" questioned Straub from the other end of the table.

"Must you even ask Gramps?" retorted Rory with a chuckle.

"My mistake," replied Straub, smiling as he rose and gave Rory a hug.

"Sit, sit," urged Francine. "Jane, would you please bring my granddaughter a cup of coffee."

Jane, Straub and Francine's maid, walked out from the kitchen and placed a steaming cup of coffee on the table in front of Rory.

"Thanks Jane," replied Rory with a grin as she picked up the cup and immediately took a large gulp.

"It's my pleasure Miss Lorelai," replied Jane smiling. Jane had been the elder Hayden's maid now for 20 years and had watched Rory grow up over the years. "What would you like for breakfast?"

"Just eggs would be fine thanks Jane," replied Rory, slightly distracted by the cup of coffee she was still holding.

"Bacon?" questioned Jane, knowing Rory wouldn't be thinking about much else except for her coffee right now.

"Oh, bacon, yes please," answered Rory, having finished her coffee already. "And.."

"More coffee," interrupted Jane immediately, already knowing exactly what Rory was about to ask for. "Right away Miss Lorelai."

"So Lorelai, what gives us the pleasure of your company this morning?" questioned Straub.

"Well, I'm sure you've heard that it's Rory now," started Rory with an inordinately large sigh.

Francine looked at her granddaughter with a look of pity on her face. She and Straub were aware of what had been going on with their granddaughter over the last three months. They were also aware of the fact that their son had gotten to the stage where he was at a loss as to what to do.

Francine knew that her granddaughter moving in with her mother was going to be a big change, and would take a lot of adjusting.

"I just don't know what to do anymore," ranted Rory in a quiet voice. "I just had to get out of that house."

"You're parents are only doing what they think is best for you," put in Francine softly.

"I do know that Granny, and as much as they may not believe it, I do appreciate it. It's just hard. I'm not sure I like being Rory," she finally admitted. Rory felt a weight lifted from her shoulders. That was the first time she had admitted truthfully out loud that she didn't like being Rory Gilmore.

Sure, she had said it so many time before, but before it had been more about sticking one to her parents, or keeping up the façade of the annoyed, sullen teenager. This was the first time she had truthfully admitted aloud that while she wanted to get back to who she use to be, she still didn't like being Rory.

"It's going to take a lot of adjustment Lorelai. It's going to be hard, but you need to decide whether it is worth it or not," added Straub.

Just then, Jane walked out of the kitchen and placed everyone's breakfast in front of them.

"Thank you Jane," said Straub before she walked back into the kitchen.

"Lorelai," started Francine after Jane had left the room, "you haven't been happy over the last three months. Ever since Logan, Colin and Finn left for boarding school, you've not been yourself. Maybe a change will be good for you."

Rory sighed, nodding. Francine and Straub Hayden were the only ones who knew just how hard it had been for her when Logan, Colin and Finn had left for boarding school, almost without telling her and Steph. Rory hadn't even told Christopher how much she had been affected by it.

"I miss this," Rory admitted, motioning to the table, and the three of them sitting there.

"Yes, Jane does make an amazing breakfast," admitted Straub.

"You know what I mean Gramps," said Rory, with a smile, shaking her head.

"I do Lorelai. I do. And we've missed you as well. These last three months haven't been the same without you," he replied with a smile.

Rory felt a wave of guilt wash over her. She had always been so close to her paternal grandparents, and yet she had barely seen them over the last three months.

"I had a fight with Mom," admitted Rory.

"People fight Lorelai, I'm sure it will be okay," reassured Straub.

"She was so hurt, and so was Dad," muttered Rory, staring at the table.

"Christopher was here?" asked Francine, surprise in her voice.

"Not for long," explained Rory. "I ended up in the papers again this morning. That's what we all fought over."

"We saw," admitted Straub softly.

"Great," muttered Rory again, still looking at the table, not being able to bring herself to look up at her grandparents.

"Lorelai," said Francine in soft but stern voice. "Look at me please."

Rory looked up at Francine, hoping she wouldn't see the disappointment mirrored in her face that she had seen in her parent's faces last night. Instead she saw understanding.

"Lorelai, we care greatly about you. And we can see from the way you have acted this morning that you do want to change, and that you regret all of this ugliness. So we aren't going to pass judgement before we hear your side of the story," continued Francine.

Tears formed in the corners of Rory's eyes.

"I just wanted one last night to be me. One last night to be Lorelai Hayden, before I was forced to become Rory Gilmore. My friends from Boston were in Hartford and called and invited me to the party. I just wanted to see them one last time, before I entered a world where I had to constantly be someone I'm not. I have to go to Chilton all day and have people call me Rory Gilmore, when that isn't my real name. Everyone at Chilton is going to meet me as Rory Gilmore. None of them are going to know the real me."

Rory paused from her monologue and looked up her grandparents. Neither one looked angry, so she continued.

"I shouldn't have lied to Mom about it, but," Rory paused again, not knowing quite what to say next. "I don't know, I just…."

Rory trailed off, not being able to explain anything more to her grandparents.

"Lorelai," started Straub softly. "As much as we hate to see you like this in the papers, we do understand why you did what you did on the weekend. Not that we are in any way condoning the fact that you lied to your mother. But we do understand your reasons. You have to understand that the reason your parents are doing what they are doing for you is because the way you have been living is not healthy."

"We all love you Lorelai," continued Francine after her husband had finished. "And we all want you to be happy. Obviously your parents don't think you can have that chance in Boston at the moment, so they have come up with this idea instead. Maybe you just have to trust that they know best at the moment."

Rory nodded, taking in what her grandparents had just said to her.

"I'm going to give it a chance," confessed Rory. "It's just hard."

"Everything in life worth having is," said Straub, sending a sympathetic smile to his granddaughter.

Rory smiled back. Glancing at the clock on the wall, Rory quickly started to move.

"Oh shoot," she said, more to herself than anyone else.

"Are you alright?" asked Francine quickly.

"Yes Granny, I'm fine, just if I don't leave now I'm going to be late for school."

"Well by all means young lady, off to school you go," said Straub.

"Oh, and Granny, Gramps. Can I park my car here in the mornings before school? I can't really park it at school if I'm going to try and keep my real identity from everyone, and otherwise I would have to catch the bus in everyday," asked Rory quickly.

"Of course dear," replied Francine. "And don't be a stranger anymore, will you?"

"I won't Granny," promised Rory, hugging both her grandparents. "Thanks for the talk. It really has helped."

"Our pleasure," replied Straub.

Smiling at her grandparents one last time, Rory turned and walked quickly to the front door, determined to get to Chilton on time.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"I'm a bad mother," moaned Lorelai to Sookie as they walked down the streets of Stars Hollow.

"You are not a bad mother," replied Sookie.

"Yes, I am. Sookie, I yelled at my kid. I told her I didn't want to see her face. I told her she was impossible. I took all my insecurities about not being able to do this, and I took them out on Rory."

"So apologize," suggested Sookie sympathetically.

"I was too mad and stupid to apologise last night, and she was gone before I got up this morning. Plus, I don't want her to think that what she did on Saturday night was okay, because it wasn't."

"So you turned into crazy spider monkey lady, you'll both move on."

"Crazy spider monkey lady?" questioned Lorelai.

"Did you know such an animal existed?" asked Sookie with a laugh in response to Lorelai's query.

"Weirdly named animals aside," started Lorelai, smiling at her best friend. She sighed and stopped walking. "She likes it Sookie, the whole society set. Remember how I said she was gone by the time I got up this morning?"

"Yeah," murmured Sookie as the two ladies started to walk again.

"She went to Chris' parent's house."

"That's gotta hurt," sympathised Sookie.

"She should like it," continued Lorelai. "She should want to go and see her grandparents. Just because I didn't like that world doesn't mean she shouldn't, right?"

"Right," said Sookie with conviction.

"Right, so why do I keep going to pick up the phone to cancel this weeks Friday night dinner? I have so many excuses, because she just started school. What am I trying to do – undermine their relationship?"

"No you weren't," assured Sookie.

"Yes I was," admitted Lorelai with a guilty look on her face.

"Yes you were," amended Sookie.

"Yes. I'm officially 4 years old."

"You're jealous," said Sookie carefully.

"I am not jealous," replied Lorelai, indignant.

"Yeah, you are. You're jealous because Chris' parents have had a close relationship with her all her life. You're jealous because she use to come down to Hartford and stay with them during school holidays, yet last week was the first time Rory has ever stepped foot in Stars Hollow. And you think you're parent's will like her more than they like you."

"Thanks for the hug," replied Lorelai sarcastically, knowing that everything Sookie had just said to her was true.

"See," moaned Sookie, "I'm bad at advice talks. Can we talk about cooking? 'Cause I'm good with cooking?"

Lorelai put a small smile on her face and shook her head slightly.

"It's okay Sooks, really it is. I just have to accept the fact that Rory wants the life that I ran away from."

Sookie just nodded, unsure of what to say to Lorelai.

"Luke's," she proclaimed happily, as they arrived at the front entrance of Luke's diner.

"Thank God," replied Lorelai. "I'm coffee deprived, week, fading…"

Lorelai trailed off dramatically as she and Sookie entered the diner. Putting all thoughts of Rory to the back of her mind, Lorelai focused on the day ahead of her. She had until later this afternoon to figure out what she was going to say to her daughter.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: I am so sorry it has taken me so long to post this next chapter - but, as those who reviewed will know, because I semi explained in my review replies - I am in serious danger of failing on of my course if I don't put in some serious work soon!!**

**Failing is most definately not something I wish to do!! Plus I have so many assignements and mid semester exams coming up that it is just not funny. So I will try to have the next chapter out within 2 weeks, but it might be more like 3 weeks before I actually get it done.**

**Thank you to everyone for the reviews - and just remember that reviews make me want to write more!! So please please please - REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!**

**As per usualy - all those who review get a sneak peek - and for any details of the next chapter, such as when an update is likely, check out my live journal - link on homepage.**

**Avery xoxo**


	13. Rory's Secret

**_DISCLAIMER: I own nothing..._**

**Chapter Thirteen:**

Christopher Hayden cursed under him breath as he heard the phone start ringing. All he wanted to do was sit down and drink his cup of coffee in peace. Already this morning he had had a frantic call from Lorelai about the fact that Rory had ran off to his parents without telling her.

It had taken him ages to calm Lorelai down and convince her that Rory didn't hate her. Chris actually wasn't at all surprised when he heard where Rory had gone. Rory and his parents had always been close, they were often the ones she ran to when things got tough.

However, it had taken him ages to convince Lorelai of that. Since she had never gotten along with her own parents, she couldn't envision Rory willingly going to visit his. Now that he had finally convinced Lorelai that Rory didn't hate her, and that odds were that she would actually return home after school, all he wanted to do was drink his morning coffee.

"Mr Hayden," came Elissa's voice, snapping him from his thoughts.

He looked up and saw the maid holding out the phone to him. Sighing, he reached for the phone.

"It's your mother," whispered Elissa, before she disappeared back into the kitchen.

Chris closed his eyes, resisting the urge to groan out loud, knowing that his mother would hear him.

"Good morning mother," he said into the phone.

"Christopher," greeted his mother shortly. Chris winced. Already he could tell his mother wasn't happy with him.

"Your father and I had a visit from Lorelai today, or Rory I suppose, as she is now apparently being called."

"I know mom," replied Chris tiredly.

"You know?" asked Francine Hayden, slightly taken aback from the revelation.

"Lorelai called me this morning, wondering why it was that her daughter had taken off without telling her."

"After the way you both acted, I should hardly think she would have had to wonder."

"After the way we acted?" asked Chris incredulously. "Do you even know why we acted that way mother? Have you seen the latest papers?"

"Don't talk to me in that tone Christopher. Of course your father and I have seen the papers. But the way you and Lorelai handled the situation was not the right way."

"Mom, this has been a reoccurring thing recently."

"I'm well aware Christopher. Rory explained everything to us this morning. Now listen, I know that you sending her to live with Lorelai was for her own good, but she is going to need time to adjust. And you need to give her that time."

"Mom, you have no idea how bad it has gotten," defended Chris adamantly.

"Your father and I can read Christopher," replied Francine, in a slightly frosty tone. "Just because you've decided to keep us out of this, and not inform us of anything that had been going on with our only granddaughter, does not mean we have not found out another way."

"Mom," started Chris again, realising just how annoyed his mother was getting.

He sighed softly to himself, knowing just how protective his mother could get of his daughter.

"No Christopher. I do not want to hear it. The way you acted yesterday crushed that girl. You should be ashamed of yourself. There are other ways to deal with things, ways that don't include freezing out your only daughter. Your father and I will see you soon for dinner," ordered Francine, before hanging up her phone.

Chris sighed again, more audibly this time, and picked up his now cold cup of coffee.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory sighed to herself as she walked down the hallway towards her locker. She could see a group of people standing near where she was headed, and it looked suspiciously as though Paris Gellar was one of those people.

Rory walked up to Paris Gellar who, coincidently, was leaning against her locker.

"Excuse me," said Rory politely, hoping in vain that Paris would just move without making a scene.

"You think just because you tell me to move that I'm going to?" asked Paris in a snotty voice. "Nobody tells me what to do around here."

"You're standing against my locker," pointed out Rory, attempting to remain polite. A big blow up was the last thing she felt like now, especially after the fight she had had with her parents the day before.

"Well, you might just have to put up with that," retorted Paris cruelly.

Rory sighed to herself, and mentally reminded herself that she couldn't react to Paris in the way she wanted to. Keeping with her new persona, Rory stood to the side of her locker, and attempted to wait for Paris to move. She had to eventually, there was no way Paris would risk being late to class just to annoy her.

"Giving up so easily Mary?" mocked one of Tristan's friends.

Rory frowned slightly and tried to remember his name. She took a deep breath and gritted her teeth and willed herself again to stay silent. A few seconds later, the bell indicating homeroom was starting rang.

"Bye Mary," sniped another of Tristan's friends.

"Don't be late now," taunted Paris, and she finally moved from in front of Rory's locker.

As they all walked away, Rory rolled her eyes and started pulling books out of her locker, realising that she was in fact going to be late.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Sitting on a bench under a tree that day at lunch, Rory opened her book. At last she had some time to herself, some time where she could just be herself, without having to constantly watch what she said, just in case she gave herself away.

Hearing the sound of feet approaching her, Rory glanced up from her book to see who the intruder was. Upon ascertaining that it was Tristan standing only 3 feet away from her, she sighed heavily and closed her book.

"Wow," she muttered sarcastically under her breath. "Back for round two are we?"

"I know you're hiding something," replied Tristan calmly and rationally. "I've been… observing you, for lack of a better term."

"Because that's not freaky or anything," muttered Rory.

"You look so familiar," continued Tristan, ignoring the hostility present in Rory's voice. "I feel as though I know you. But I just can't place it.

Rory felt panic wash over her. She focused on keeping her breathing steady as she felt all of the blood leave her face. A sickening feeling started to manifest itself in her stomach.

"That alone is evidence that you are hiding something," pointed out Tristan.

"What alone?" snapped Rory.

"You looked so panicked just before. Which makes me think that you do have a secret, and that you really don't want anyone to know about it."

"I don't know what you're talking about," replied Rory unconvincingly. She cursed herself for her poor acting skills, wondering why she had never bothered to take drama.

"Don't worry," replied Tristan, nonchalant, before smirking at her. "I'm not going to say anything to anyone before I figure out exactly what your secret it. And I'll probably warn you before I tell everyone anyway."

"What makes you so sure that you'll figure out my secret?" challenged Rory, standing from her position on the bench so that they were at eye level.

"Ah, so there really is a secret. Thanks for validating that for me."

Rory dropped her head and cursed under her breath at her own stupidity. How could she have fallen for that one? She lifted her head again to meet Tristan's eye, a wary look on her face.

Tristan chuckled at her, and turned, starting to walk away. After a few steps he paused, and turned back to face her again.

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me," he assured her. Surprisingly Rory found herself believing him. Pausing slightly, Tristan continued.

"For now."

Winking at Rory, he turned again, and this time, walked away without looking back.

Rory cursed to herself again, and threw her book back into her bag. There was no way she was going to be able to keep reading the book now, she had more important things to worry about.

Picking up her bag, she started to walk back to her locker, wondering just how long it would be before Tristan finally figured out who exactly she was.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"Rory," sang out Jess, waving a hand in front of her face for what felt like the seventh time that afternoon.

"Sorry,' replied Rory, quickly shaking her head.

"What's up with you this afternoon Rory?" asked Jess. "You've been distracted since I got here."

"How did you get her to let you in?" asked Rory curiously, avoiding Jess' question. "I'm suppose to be grounded."

"But she likes me now, doesn't she?" replied Jess laughing. "But don't think you're going to avoid my question that easily."

Rory sighed, knowing that Jess would just keep asking if she didn't tell him now.

"This guy at school, Tristan," she admitted. "He knows I'm hiding something, and is set on finding out what it is. It's like some sort of game to him."

"Maybe he does recognise you from your pictures. Just don't antagonise him, and he'll probably forget about it sooner or later."

"Well," said Rory in a drawn out voice. A sheepish look covered her face. "That's the thing you see. We may have met once. Or maybe twice."

Jess raised his eyebrows and turned his full attention towards his new friend.

"How long ago did you meet?" he asked slowly, knowing that whatever Rory said wasn't going to be good.

"Remember that guy I was with at the party on Saturday night?"

"Oh, right," replied Jess simply.

"And I might have also been with him at the last party I went to in Boston," admitted Rory, before burying her head in a pillow on her bed.

"Oh," repeated Jess, unsure of what else to say. Only Rory would be able to get herself in a mess this complicated.

"And Austin, one of my good friends from Boston, just so happens to be Tristan's cousin."

"Right," said Jess again, pursing his lips. "Maybe it is a little worse than I originally made it out to be.

Rory lifted her head from where it had been buried in a pillow and glared at Jess.

"Why thank-you for been so very helpful," she replied sarcastically.

"No problem," answered Jess, laughing, as he threw back at her the pillow she had launched at him earlier.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter took a little longer than my self imposed 2 weeks period! **

**It's a little short, I know, but it had to be this length in order to get across what I needed to!!!**

**So - things are heating up with Tristan and Rory, but at the moment I won't say how long it is going to be before Tristan figures out what Rory's secret is!**

**Remember - REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!! Everyone who reviews gets a sneak peek as per usual!**

**Avery xoxo**


	14. Old Friends and Secret Crushes

**A/N: I'm back!! Yeah! There is an author's note at the bottom, but for now, enjoy this long overdue chapter :)**

**_DISCLAIMER: I own nothing...._**

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"I am so so glad to be free again," laughed Rory as she walked down the street with Jess.

"How is not being grounded in Stars Hollow any different to being grounded in Stars Hollow? There's nothing to do," replied Jess frankly.

"It's the principle of the matter," answered Rory dryly.

"Fair enough," admitted Jess. "What are you up to this afternoon?"

"Must you ask?" groaned Rory. "I have homework that I have to do for Chilton."

"It's a Thursday Rory," teased Jess, "blow it off, you have the whole weekend for homework."

"Oh how I wish I could. Apparently keeping up this whole bookworm façade involves actually doing the work assigned, on time. I've only been there for three and a half weeks and already I'm so behind. I have a pile of work that was assigned to me today, that is expected tomorrow."

"Have fun with that," mocked Jess, as he started to head back to the Luke's.

Rory waved to him as she crossed the road to head back to Lorelai's house. As she walked up the road that Lorelai's house sat at the end of, Rory let out a long sigh. The homework that was waiting for her was the last thing she wanted to do at the moment.

Looking up at house in front of her, Rory froze, unable to comprehend the sight in front of her. Sitting on the front steps of her mother's house was Stephanie Vanderbilt, the last person she expected to see in Stars Hollow on a Thursday afternoon.

"Steph?" asked Rory, disbelieving.

"Hey," broached Steph hesitantly, standing from her previous sitting position on the porch steps.

"You're here," replied Rory stupidly. "In Stars Hollow."

Steph simply nodded her head in response, attempting to gauge what type of reaction her visit was going to elicit from her former best friend.

Rory narrowed her eyes and set her jaw, not having forgotten the last time she and Steph had spoken.

_**Flashback**_

_Sitting in the cafeteria for what could possibly the last time at her school in Boston, Lorelai Hayden suddenly heard a slight cough behind her. She straightened up and slid around on the wooden bench._

"_Steph," she said in a wary voice. One thing she really didn't feel like at the moment was a guilt trip. _

"_I hear you're going to your Mom's house in Connecticut," said Steph shortly. Lorelai just nodded, knowing that if Steph wanted something, she wouldn't leave until she got it. _

"_Good," she replied. Lorelai raised her eyebrows at the girl who use to be her best friend. She knew Steph would think it was a good idea, but she didn't think she would have to guts to come straight up to her and tell her that. "You need to get away from here, from those people." A look of disdain covered Steph's face as she mentioned Lorelai's new friends._

"_Those people," hissed Lorelai as she stood up to face Steph, "never left me, those people, care enough to want to spend time with me. Those people, would never wait an entire week to tell me they were leaving." Lorelai paused and gauged Steph's reaction. Shaking her head slightly, Lorelai said one last thing to Steph before getting up and walking out of the cafeteria. "Those people, have kept me going these past three months."_

_Steph watched Lorelai Hayden walk out of the cafeteria, unable to think of anything to say in rebuttal to her friend's last four comments. _

_**End Flashback**_

"What are you doing here Stephanie?" asked Rory callously. "You hade your feelings about me perfectly clear last time we spoke."

"I… uh," faltered Steph at the cold tone of Rory's voice.

Rory just rolled her eyes and held her head high in the air as she attempted to walk straight past Steph and into the house.

As Rory went to walk past her, Steph stuck out her hand and held Rory's upper arm. Steph drew in a sharp breathe when she met Rory's eyes. Anger, hatred, these were all emotions she had expected. But to see hurt, betrayal, and the beginnings of tears in the eyes of the girl she had thought of as a sister for so long, that was what hurt Steph the most.

"Lori, I'm sorry," whispered Steph slowly, dropping her head.

Rory took a deep breath, and after a moments silent, let out the same breath before dropping her own head.

"I'm sorry too Steph," she admitted eventually. "I shouldn't have acted the way I did."

"It's not your fault," argued Steph softly, but adamantly.

"No, Steph, it is. I behaved so badly," rebutted Rory, lifting her head to meet Steph's eyes again. "I felt like the boys had abandoned me, and without thinking I abandoned you. I was just hurt. I just… why didn't they tell us sooner?"

Rory had to drop her head again suddenly to prevent tears from falling.

"Yeah, you did. But I didn't even give you a chance to explain. As soon as you hung out with those other guys once, I stopped giving you the time of day."

Rory attempted in vain to stop the tears that were forming in her eyes from spilling over for the second time. Upon seeing tears start to drop down the sides of her friends face, Steph pulled Rory into a hug, and let her own tears fall as well.

After a moment, they pulled apart, both girls sniffing.

"Did you want to come in?" offered Rory quietly.

Steph nodded in response, and followed Rory into the house.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Lorelai smile to herself when she pulled her jeep in front of her house. The light in Rory's bedroom was on. She let out a small laugh and shook her head at herself. Never did she imagine that she would get such joy from seeing her teenage daughter's bedroom light on when she got home from work. She got out of her jeep and started walking towards her house.

Since the party incident three and a half weeks ago in Hartford, she and Rory had been getting along well, and Rory hadn't acted out again in any serious way.

Sure, there were still times when things became tense between them. And those times did occur slightly more than Lorelai would like, but Rory hadn't been living with her for long, and it was getting better and better.

"Rory," she sang out as she opened the front door.

Not hearing an answer, Lorelai's heart skipped a beat. She frowned at her own folly and silently berated herself. Just because Rory didn't answer immediately did not mean anything bad. There could be a number of reasons she wasn't answering. The most obvious being that she simply didn't hear her. Rory not answering did not mean that she had snuck out.

"Rory," she repeated as she stuck her head into her daughter's room, glad to see her daughter sitting on her bed. Lorelai did a double take after seeing another girl sitting on the bed with Rory, and the most shocking part, Rory laughing. Looking as though she was happy, and having fun.

"Mom, hi," answered Rory with a massive smile. Lorelai swallowed and smiled back, not quite having gotten over the shock of her daughter's seemingly euphoric mood.

"This is Steph," continued Rory. "She's an old friend from Boston."

"Boston?" questioned Lorelai, trepidation washing over her.

She didn't know the whole story from Boston, she wasn't sure that Chris even knew the whole story. But Chris had told her the basics, the main fact being that the changes in their daughter had occurred at the same time that she started hanging out with a certain groups of people from her old school.

Rory heard the uneasiness in her mother's voice, and immediately moved to correct her mother's assumptions.

"Steph's a really old friend Mom," clarified Rory. "We've been friends since we were in grade school."

"Okay," nodded Lorelai, feeling slightly placated.

As well as having told her about the new friends from Boston, Chris had also mentioned that Rory had started hanging out with this new group of people because most of her best friends had gone to boarding school. Chris was convinced that a lot of the change in their daughter was due to the loss of her best friends.

Still, Lorelai made a mental note to call Chris and find out whether he knew this Stephanie girl, and what he thought of her.

"Hi," said Steph tentatively from the bed, not quite sure how much Lorelai Gilmore knew about Rory's life in Boston, especially over the last few months she was there.

Lorelai smiled again, not wanting Rory's current mood to be ruined, and therefore not wanting Rory's friend to feel unwelcome.

"How does everyone feel about pizza for dinner?" she asked brightly.

"Sounds good to me," answered Rory from the bed, looking at Steph as she did. "You're staying for dinner right?"

"Sure," replied Steph with a smile, after realising Lorelai wasn't about to start yelling at her to get out of her house. "I didn't realise how late it was."

Lorelai glanced at her watch, a slight frown crossing her face.

"Did you drive down from Boston?" she asked Steph, slightly concerned, remembering seeing an unfamiliar car parked, half hidden, near the garage. For some unknown reason, it hadn't even registered in Lorelai's mind until now.

"Yeah, I drove down this afternoon," replied Steph politely.

"You can't drive back tonight," insisted Lorelai. "It's way too late. It's dark and you'd be tired. You should stay here tonight."

"Are you sure that's okay?" asked Steph. "I don't want to be a hassle. I can go and book myself into a hotel in Hartford for the night."

"Nonsense," insisted Lorelai again. "I mean, we only have to couch, but you're more than welcome to stay."

"Please Steph," implored Rory. "Then you can come to Luke's for breakfast with us in the morning. You can meet my friend Jess."

Steph smiled and nodded.

"Thank-you, the couch will be wonderful."

"I'll go order the pizza," replied Lorelai as she turned to exit the room. Pausing slightly she spun back around to face Rory. "Do you think three will do?" she asked seriously.

Rory considered this for a moment, and then nodded.

"Cheesy bread as well," suggested Rory after she had finished contemplating.

"That's a given," replied Lorelai solemnly, before leaving the room to go and order the pizza.

"Three pizzas?" asked Steph, her eyes wide. "I forgot how much you eat."

"I'm an amateur compared to Lorelai," replied Rory seriously, motioning out the door to Lorelai as she spoke.

"It's so strange not calling you Lorelai," confessed Steph. "How did you do it? I'd get so confused. Especially if no one at Chilton knows who you are. What if you accidently forgot Rory was what everyone knew you as, and someone called you Rory and you didn't answer them?"

"I didn't take it so well at first," admitted Rory with a laugh. "I was so angry for ages when I first moved here. But I know why they did it. Plus, I don't want everyone at Chilton knowing who I am, especially not with Tristan and all."

Steph nodding, knowing all about Tristan. Rory had told her all about Chilton earlier, about Paris, about Tristan, how he knew she had a secret, how she had met him before.

"I don't suppose I've slipped up all that often at Chilton. Maybe once or twice. But they think I'm this quiet bookworm, a 'Mary'," laughed Rory. "If I ever don't answer them, they think I'm just too focused on my work or something, which works well, because it solidifies my cover for them."

Steph shook her head and laughed at Rory.

"I still can't believe you managed to get yourself nicknamed 'Mary'. Especially by the same guy you drunkenly slept with twice only a week before."

"What can I say," replied Rory shrugging her shoulders, with a fake air of superiority. "I'm very very good."

Steph took the chance to throw a pillow at Rory, causing both girls to break down into fits of laughter.

After they managed to compose themselves again, Steph spoke.

"I'm really glad I came down here today," she said softly.

"So am I," admitted Rory quietly. "So am I."

Neither girl said anything after that. They simply smiled at each other, both equally glad they were back to being friends. Even if there relationship wasn't what it use to be, at least they were talking again, which was the first step in the path of returning their relationship to the norm.

"Let's go eat," suggested Rory as they heard the doorbell ring, and Lorelai yell out pizza in an over-excited voice from the foyer.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Sitting with in her room with Steph later that night, Rory pursed her lips, trying to decide whether or not to confide what she was thinking in the girl she had once shared everything with.

"You're hiding something," remarked Steph nonchalantly, from where she was sitting on the makeshift bed Rory and Lorelai had helped construct on the floor. Steph was going to sleep on the couch, but the idea of a sleepover in Rory's room like they had had when they were younger had sounded much more appealing to the newly reunited friends.

"I hate that you could always read me so well," admitted Rory with frustration.

Steph didn't reply, just waited quietly for Rory to tell her what was wrong.

"There's this guy," started Rory hesitantly, not sure if she was ready to admit this out loud. Admitting that she was starting to not hate Tristan would make the whole thing real. She hadn't even really managed to allow herself to admit it in her head yet.

"Is he cute?" asked Steph, suddenly very interested in what Rory was telling her. She twisted herself around on Rory's bed immediately so that she was facing her best friend.

"Gorgeous," admitted Rory, smiling back at Steph. Tristan's looks were the one thing she could freely admit – there was no debating his looks.

"And you like him," pushed Steph, wanting to get as much information out of her friend as possible.

"I didn't at first. He can be so annoying, and when I started at Chilton it was as though his sole mission in life was to make me miserable," started Rory. Pausing to take a deep breath, she continued. "He keeps asking me out, but I don't know whether it's all just a game to him. Like he has to prove that I'll go out with him. Everything he says in laced with sexual innuendo."

"That doesn't mean he's playing you," pointed out Steph kindly.

"Did I mention he calls me Mary?" asked Rory bluntly.

Steph let out a short laugh before she was able to stop herself. Rory glared at her in return.

"I'm sorry Lore," said Steph, once she was able to control her urge to laugh. "But of all the people that could be labelled a Mary, you would be the last person I would have thought of."

"Why thank-you," replied Rory dryly. "What should I do Steph?"

"I don't know," admitted Steph, serious again. "I've never met him, I haven't seen the way he acts around you. But if you like him, you should give it a chance. I know you Lore, I think you have the sense to be able to tell if he really likes you or not."

Rory nodded and smiled at her old friend. She had forgotten how good it was just to have someone that you could talk to, without worrying what they would think of you, or whether they would tell anyone.

Sensing the conversation was over, Steph stood from her position on Rory's bed and started getting ready to go to sleep.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Lorelai Gilmore sat at her kitchen table with a hot cup of coffee in front of her. She had spoken to Chris earlier, who had confirmed that Stephanie was in fact a very old friend of Rory, and had nothing to do with her recent behaviour.

Which Lorelai was glad for, because she had already invited the girl to stay the night. Not that she would have kicked her out if Chris had have said anything other than what he did, but she would have felt guilty admitting to him that a girl who was part of the problem was spending the night.

Hearing a laugh from in Rory's room Lorelai smiled. After three and a half weeks of ups and downs, she was starting to think that everything was finally settling down. Rory hadn't been acting up excessively over the last three weeks, she had been grounded, so there wasn't much she could have done. But it finally felt as though there wasn't a constant war going on inside her house, and for that Lorelai was grateful. She wanted to be able to really get to know her daughter, and hopefully, she would have the chance very soon.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter - I'm really excited about this story again! I wasn't going to upload this chapter until Thursday, because I was going to study for my last exam rather than edit and finish this chapter, but I couldn't help myself!!**

**So you all get this chapter earlier than planned :)**

**The next chapter won't be out for at least two weeks though, because after exams I am going away with some friends for a much needed vacation!**

**Please REVIEW!! Let me know if you like the direction the story is heading in at the moment. I have a fair idea of how everything is going to pan out now, but I'm always open to suggestions! As per usual, those who review will get a sneak peek of the next chapter, and I do promise that anyone who reviews before or on the 19th of June (my time - Australia) will get a sneak peek before I go on my vacation. Any reviews after that will have to wait until I get back!**

**Thanks to everyone who has stuck by this story even with my rather sudden and unplanned hiatus :)**

*******VERY IMPORTANT*****  
I just need to add this bit, I can't remember whether I have said it before or not, and I can't be bothered going back to check. To do with the Chilton kids - Paris, Louise, Maddie, Tristan and his friends are all just friends. Nothing more. Paris does not like Tristan as she does on the show. This will be important soon... (REVIEW and you'll find out why in the sneak peek!)**

**Avery xoxo**


	15. New Friends, Fresh Starts

**_DISCLAIMER: I own nothing..._**

**A/N: Chapter 15! I thought you all deserved a fairly long chapter, so here it is!  
I just need to clarify once more before everyone reads this chapter - Paris DOES NOT like Tristan romantically in this story. They are just friends.  
With that said - please - read and enjoy! (And review at the end!!)**

**Chapter Fifteen:**

Rory pulled her car into the elder Hayden's driveway. Jumping out of the driver's seat, she cursed herself for being late. Grabbing her bag from the passenger seat, Rory hurried out of the gates and towards Chilton.

She knew why she was running late. Lorelai had taken her and Steph to Luke's for breakfast, and then goodbye had just seemed so hard. Steph had promised to visit again soon, and all three girls had become lost in breakfast and conversation. Eventually Rory had realised the time and reluctantly left for school, speeding all the way to Hartford.

She took a deep breath and gritted her teeth when she saw Tristan's car pull into the parking lot just before she reached the front gates of the school. He was the last person she felt like seeing at the moment. Her hair was a mess, she was all over the place and her uniform was untucked. She had meant to fix herself up before she left Stars Hollow, but had been having such a good time she hadn't had time.

Bracing herself for the inevitable comments, Rory looked straight ahead and marched straight towards the main building.

"Well, well, well," said Tristan as he jogged to her side before falling in time with her pace of walking. "We're a little late now aren't we Mary?"

"I could say the same thing for you," retorted Rory, not having the patience to play the shy bookworm at the moment. She thought back to what she had told Steph the night before, then pushed the thought from her mind.

"Yes, but I'm always late. You're never late," pointed out Tristan.

Rory sighed and stole a sideways glance at Tristan. She thought about what Steph had said last night, and tried to figure out whether she trusted her judgement of Tristan enough to let her guard down.

"I suppose not," she admitted amicably, deciding to take Steph's advice and see how things played out.

"Hmm," replied Tristan, stopping in his tracks and grabbing her arm, forcing her to stop as well. He frowned playfully at her, while feeling her forehead with the back of his hand. "Are you feeling alright? You just agreed with me."

"Oh har har," said Rory darkly as she rolled her eyes. "Would you kindly unhand me now?"

Tristan laughed in response and released her arm, allowing them both to move forwards again.

"You know you want me Mary," joked Tristan again. "Deny it all you want, but we both know it's true."

This time it was Rory's turn to stop suddenly. Tristan had taken a few steps before realising she had stopped. He stopped himself and turned to face her, a questioning look on his face.

"What would you do if I did finally agree to go out with you?" challenged Rory, holding her hands on her hips.

Tristan didn't reply. Instead, he tilted his head slightly and frowned, trying to figure out if the beautiful girl standing in front of him was being serious.

"Well?" asked Rory again in the same challenging tone, waiting for a reply. An uneasy feeling started to wash over her as she considered that maybe Tristan had just been mucking around the whole time.

Tristan smirked back at her, his confidence returning after eventually deciding that she was being serious.

"If you did finally agree to go out with me than I would take you to a concert this Saturday night," replied Tristan confidently, pulling two concert tickets out from his pocket and waving them in front of him. "P.J. Harvey."

"You have two tickets to a P.J. Harvey concert this Saturday?" asked Rory, her eyebrows raised. She loved P.J. Harvey.

"So is that a yes?" asked Tristan, staring back at her. He had brought the tickets with him to school that day to ask her to go to the concert with him anyway, she had just provided him with the perfect opportunity to do so.

Rory pursed her lips and considered it for a moment. She thought again about the conversation she and Steph had had the previous night.

"We'll see," she finally replied smirking to herself. It was her turn to play games. "I'll tell you by the end of the day. It all depends on how you act today."

"Shall I carry your books around for you for the whole day?" asked Tristan in a slightly mocking way.

Rory glared at him playfully.

"No, I do not want you to carry my books around for me. I want you to be yourself, just not so jerk-ish."

"That's going to be hard," replied Tristan thoughtfully, as they both began to walk slowly towards the main building again. "No comments at all Mary? Because that's kind of a part of my wonderful personality."

"Just keep them to a minimum," replied Rory thoughtfully, rolling her eyes. "And learn my name. Rory. R-O-R-Y."

Tristan just laughed in response, and held open the door of the main building for her. When Rory turned left and started to head to their Lit class, Tristan cleared his throat.

"Yes?" asked Rory, turning around to face him, somewhat impatiently.

Tristan pointed behind him, in the opposite direction to where she had been heading.

"This is how I know you've never been late before. We have to sign in at Student Admin because we missed homeroom," explained Tristan.

Rory looked at him in disbelief.

"That is a stupid rule," she huffed, annoyed, as she started to walk back in the direction Tristan had indicated. "Now they're making me even more late."

Tristan just laughed and shook his head, jogging to catch up with Rory as she power-walked down the hall towards Student Admin.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory sat down in the cafeteria at lunchtime and rested her head in her hands, groaning. Her day had gone from bad to worse. Not only had she been late, something her Lit teacher had felt the need to make a fuss about, but she hadn't had time to do any of her homework last night because Steph had shown up.

Every single one of her teachers had felt the need to look shocked and question her when she told them she hadn't done the assigned work. Maintaining a reputation as a shy bookworm who was dedicated to her studies was a lot harder than it looked.

"That bad?" asked a voice teasingly. Rory recognised Louise as being the owner of the voice and looked up to verify her guess.

Madeline and Louise were standing by her table wearing smiles bordering on the edge of laughter. Louise sat down across from her while Maddie took the seat next to her. Instead of answering, Rory just shook her head, before dropping it back into her hands.

"It's just because today is the first time you haven't done your homework, as well as the first time you've been late," pointed out Maddie kindly as she opened a packet of chips, offering one to Rory.

Rory gratefully took a chip and ate it. She had become friends with Louise and Madeline over the past two or so weeks. She wasn't overly sure about Paris. She thought they might possibly be friends, but you couldn't really tell when it came to Paris Gellar.

"So, you're going to P.J. Harvey," stated Paris as she sat down beside Louise at the table. "If I were you, after today, I'd spend the whole weekend studying and trying to catch up."

Rory frowned slightly, trying to figure out whether Paris was trying to insult her or not. It was always so hard to tell. Eventually Rory decided Paris wasn't trying to insult her, and was instead, just being Paris.

"I haven't said that I will or won't go to P.J. Harvey yet," replied Rory loftily, pulling her lunch out and setting it on the table. "I told Tristan it depends on how he acts today."

Louise and Maddie just shook their heads and smiled. To them it was beyond comprehension that someone would turn down a date with Tristan Dugrey.

"He's really not that bad," defended Paris vehemently. "He comes across a little strong sometimes, but I really do think he likes you."

Rory looked at Paris as though she had two heads.

"What?" defended Paris. "I can be nice. And anyway, it's the truth. I was being nice about a guy I've been friends with since grade one. I wasn't doing it for you. Well, not just for you."

Rory smiled and shook her head slightly.

"Thanks Paris," she said, turning her attention back to her lunch.

"Don't get use to it. I'm not always nice," replied Paris without a smile as she pulled out her lunch.

Rory, Madeline and Louise all shared a knowing glance. If there was one thing Paris Gellar would never want to be seen as, it was soft.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Later that day, Rory stood at her locker, trying to decide which books she could leave at school for the weekend. Scoffing at her own folly, she began pulling all of her books from her locker, knowing that after missing last nights homework, she was going to need every single one this weekend.

"So," said Tristan suddenly as he leant against the locker adjacent to Rory's.

"Jesus Christ," exclaimed Rory, her hand flying to her heart. "Don't just sneak up on a person like that."

Tristan laughed.

"It's not my fault you were being exceptionally unobservant," stated Tristan, holding his hands in mock surrender as Rory glared at him. "So, what's your verdict on P.J. Harvey?"

"You insult me and then still want me to go out with you?" asked Rory incredulously, her eyebrows raised. She laughed on the inside as she watched Tristan's reaction.

"Hey, come on now, I wasn't insulting you," amended Tristan, quickly backpedalling. Rory had seemed very close to accepting his offer, and the last thing he wanted now was her to change her mind about giving him a chance.

Rory looked up at him, a grin on her face. She had missed this side of her personality. She had missed joking, and being carefree, teasing people playfully.

"I was just kidding, I'm not that easy to insult," she replied with a smile. Looking at Tristan, Rory bit her bottom lip, and decided to take a chance. "What time does this concert start?"

"Seriously?" asked Tristan, smirking.

"Do you want me to change my mind?" asked Rory playfully.

"9pm," answered Tristan quickly. "I'll pick you up. Say around 6:30pm, then a can grab a bite to eat before the show."

"Who said anything about dinner?" asked Rory, teasing.

"I did," replied Tristan confidently with a slight laugh, not that he was sure Rory had been teasing him about not accepting his offer. "Just then."

"6:30pm sounds good," confirmed Rory with a laugh.

She gave Tristan directions on how to get to Stars Hollow, and then how to get to Lorelai's house. He laughed at her directions of Monty the Rooster, before realising that she was being completely serious. After she had finished giving Tristan directions, Rory said goodbye and headed out the school gates.

A little way down the road, she pulled her phone from her backpack and dialled an all too familiar number, then waited impatiently for the other person to pick up. Once she heard the telltale click of the phone begin answered, Rory spoke before the other person had a chance to.

"Guess who I have a date with on Saturday," she gushed quickly, knowing the person on the other end of the line would most appreciate this news.

"No way," yelled Steph gleefully into the phone.

Rory laughed and held the phone away from her ear slightly to compensate for the volume of Steph's voice.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory smiled as she made her usual morning walk from her grandparent's house to Chilton. Her date with Tristan had been a couple of weeks ago now, and it had gone wonderfully, just as Steph had predicted. Rory shook her head softly, she should know better by know than to question anything Steph said about guys or clothes. She usually turned out to be right.

Even Lorelai had liked Tristan, after she had interrogated him when he had first arrived. She did explain to Rory that interrogating the boy who was taking her daughter our was her right, and that she had to make sure he was good enough for her little girl. Rory had just smiled at her mother and shook her head, knowing there was no way that she was going to be able to talk Lorelai out of interrogating Tristan. She seemed to really enjoy her newly acquired motherly duties, as she called them.

Rory was, however, slightly panicked at first on the inside, and was very glad that Lorelai hadn't recognised Tristan from the pictures that had ended up in the newspaper. Sighing to herself, she mentally kicked herself. Everything would be so much more simple if those pictures hadn't ended up in the papers. She knew she would have to tell Lorelai the truth soon, but had been putting it off to avoid an argument. She was hoping that since Lorelai had met Tristan a few times now, and seemed to like him, that she wouldn't mind so much. She was glad that Tristan had refrained from referring to her as Mary in front of her mother, because Rory knew that that was something Lorelai would remember immediately.

She was pleasantly surprised however, that no one had recognised her yet. Still, a tiny part of her was a little upset that Tristan didn't recognise her, especially after spending so much time with her over the past two weeks. It had been different before they started dating, but now that they were dating, there was a small part of her did want Tristan to recognise her. Rory shook her head at her stupidity. She knew just how different she looked from her numerous pictures in the newspapers, and when she had been with Tristan before starting at Chilton. Plus, he had been drunk by the time he met her, both times, in Boston and in Stars Hollow.

She and Tristan were barely seen apart these days, and she had become good friends with James and Duncan, Tristan's two best friends. Paris had even become more friendly once she saw that Rory did in fact like Tristan and wasn't just playing games. If there was one thing that could be said about Paris, it was that she was fiercely protective of her friends.

As she walked in the gates, Rory noticed Tristan leaning against his car chatting to James and Duncan. Louise and Maddie were sitting on a brick wall nearby, most probably discussing the latest colour in lip gloss. Paris was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't unusual. She was probably attacking some poor teacher about extra credit work.

Tristan waved to her when he noticed her walk through the gates, and she started to make her way over. Rory smiled and headed in their direction. Over the past couple of weeks she had started to feel at home at Chilton. She had a great group of friends again and she has happy.

She still hadn't told anyone about who she really was though. Rory sighed slightly as she thought about it. She constantly struggled as to whether she should tell anyone, but she know that telling her friends would change everything, and she wasn't sure that she was ready for that yet. She had only been at Chilton for a month and a half. She'd been friends with Maddie, Louise and Paris for just under a month, and the boys for only about two weeks.

She still wasn't sure she trusted any of them enough to tell them her secret. Rory pursed her lips. It wasn't that she didn't like her new friends, or her new boyfriend, and she did trust them to a certain extent, it was just hard for her to fully trust them, especially after the boys had just left her and Steph in Boston.

Pushing all those thoughts from her mind, Rory placed a genuine smile back on her face as she neared the boys, Maddie and Louise.

"Hi guys," she said as she came within earshot. Rory distinctly thought she heard the word 'whipped' come softly from James' mouth.

"Hey Rore," called Maddie from where she and Louise were sitting. Louise briefly looked up and waved before turning her attention back to the conversation they were in the middle of.

"Lip gloss?" questioned Rory the boys as she stopped beside Tristan.

"Nail polish," clarified Duncan shaking his head, in a tone that clearly stated he did not understand the appeal of the conversation.

Rory laughed at the look on the boy's faces.

"Morning," whispered Tristan into her ear as he pulled her in front of him. Wrapping his arms around her waist, Tristan gave her a kiss on the cheek. Rory smiled, leaning back against him.

"You two make me sick," stated James dismally, shaking his head.

"Just because you don't have a gorgeous girl to hug, doesn't mean you have to get snippy," teased Tristan playfully.

James sighed and shook his head at his best friend.

"Pathetic," he muttered, rolling his eyes. He smiled as he continued to shake his head softly, in order to let Tristan and Rory know that he was only joking. To a certain extent anyway. He thought Tristan and Rory made a good couple, but he did however still think his best friend was pathetic in certain ways.

Tristan just laughed, and Rory smiled at the interaction between the boys, once again feeling happy and content with her life.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory pulled her metallic baby blue Ferrari California GT into her mother's garage and jumped out, eager to get to Luke's.

Running into the house quickly, she called out for Lorelai to see if her mother was home or not. When she didn't get an answer, Rory came to the conclusion that her mother was predictably still at work.

Shrugging to herself, Rory turned and left the house again, heading for Luke's diner to meet Jess and Lane. If Lorelai came home while she was still out, Rory was more that certain her mother would know what she was.

"Jess," called Rory in a drawn out voice as she walked into the dinner.

"Sit down anywhere Rore," answered Jess from in the kitchen. "I'll be right out."

Seeing that Lane had not yet arrived, Rory tried to decide where to sit. There was no one in the diner at the time, so she had free choice over which table she wanted.

Rory pursed her lips and frowned at the empty diner in front of her. The diner was rarely completely empty. So many tables to choose from.

"What are you doing?" asked Jess impatiently as he came out from behind the counter carrying a cup of coffee for her. "I have your coffee here and nowhere to put it. Choose a table."

"It's hard," explained Rory.

"Hard?" repeated Jess dubiously. "How is it hard? You can choose from every table here."

"Exactly," stated Rory in a tone that suggested he had just answered his own question. "You see, there is this table, with it's unobstructed westward view of the wide, cosmopolitan, expansive Klump street, which is tempting, because on a clear day you can see all the way to the garbage cans behind Al's Pancake World."

Jess just looked at Rory as though she had two heads.

"This place is really starting to get to you," he muttered under his breath.

"It's Lorelai," replied Rory flippantly, having heard exactly what Jess had muttered. After another moment of standing with her lips pursed, considering the layout of the diner, she brightened. "I think I'll sit at the Mafia table."

"The Mafia table?" questioned Jess.

"If you don't know what I mean, then I am not going to explain it," replied Rory seriously as she made her way to the table she had decided on.

When Jess didn't answer, but instead just put down the cup of coffee in front of her, Rory's eyes widened.

"You really don't know what I mean, do you?" she asked incredulously. She had never expected Jess to actually not know what she was referring to.

As Jess was about to answer, Lorelai Gilmore flew through the front door in a way that reminded him of a hurricane. Shaking his head, he returned to the counter to fetch a second cup of coffee, knowing from experience it would be the first thing the older Lorelai would request.

"Daughter of mine," exclaimed Lorelai jubilantly as she saw Rory. "Weird lull," she stated noting her daughter was the only customer in the diner.

Rory nodded, agreeing, as Lorelai made her way quickly over to Rory's table and sat next to her, stealing the cup of coffee from in front of her daughter.

"Hey," exclaimed Rory mulishly, "that was mine."

"You snooze, you loose. Besides, Mommy is in a rush. Gotta be back at the inn. No time to get my own."

"Fine," muttered Rory, folding her arms.

Jess shook his head again and placed the fresh cup of coffee he had brought over in front of Rory.

"Another to go as well Jess," stated Lorelai in between gulps.

"If Luke was here he would murder me, after calling me an enabler," muttered Jess as he headed back to the counter to get Lorelai's take away coffee.

"Jess doesn't understand the Mafia table," said Rory seriously after she had taken a large gulp.

"What?" exclaimed Lorelai in disbelief. She turned her attention to Jess. "So no one can come up behind you and whack you with a cannoli," she explained as though it all made perfect sense.

"Cannoli?" questioned Jess before he could stop himself. He mentally hit himself over the head. It would have been better not to ask than to risk either of the Lorelais attempting to explain it to him.

"Because he left the gun and took the cannoli," added in Rory as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Truly my daughter," sighed Lorelai happily. Placing a blank look on her face and bowing her head, Lorelai continued. "Chris has taught you well grasshopper, and now the education continues."

Rory shook her head as she laughed, holding out her watch for Lorelai to see the time.

"Oh, shoot," exclaimed Lorelai, dropping the blank look from her face after seeing the time. "Gotta go."

Jess handed her her cup of coffee as she stood and flew back out the door, almost knocking over Lane as she exited.

"Hi Lane," she called back as she continued to fly back to work.

"Hi," called Lane to the quickly disappearing Lorelai.

Turning back to the front door of the diner, Lane walked in and waved to Rory. Went to the counter and grabbed another cup of coffee for Lane and a glass of water for himself.

Upon seeing that Rory had almost finished her cup of coffee, he reconsidered the single cup her was holding, and took the entire pot back to the table with him in order to save having to make multiple trips back to the counter.

"So," started Lane, "it's Friday. Big plans?"

"Not really," answered Rory. "I'm going away from the big plans for a while. Lorelai and I are getting along really well at the moment, I don't want to ruin anything. Dad even seemed happier the last time we saw him at one of the grandparent dinners."

Lane nodded her head. She knew all about how Rory and Lorelai went to Hartford every second Friday night for dinner with both sets of her grandparents. Rory hadn't told Lane the entire story, as she had Jess, but she had told her who she really was, after swearing the small Asian girl to complete secrecy.

"Besides," continued Rory. "Steph should be here soon."

"Just what we need," replied Jess jokingly, smiling at the two girls sitting in front of him.

"Luckily for you mister, I know you're only joking," came a bubbly voice from the doorway.

"Steph," exclaimed Rory happily, jumping up to greet her friend.

Ever since Steph had turned up in Stars Hollow a couple of weeks ago, she had Rory had worked at repairing their friendship, and had become close again. Steph made regular trips to Stars Hollow, often staying the night, and had met Jess and Lane numerous times. All four of them had become fast friends, Lane and Jess immediately taking to the vivacious blonde.

"Hey Steph," greeted Lane merrily from her position at the table, while Jess just waved.

"Hey," replied Steph as she made her way over to the table with Rory.

After they were both seated, Rory had an idea.

"Movie night," Rory proclaimed excitedly.

An animated look appeared on Steph's face as she agreed with Rory. Lane nodded her agreement, while Jess looked dubious.

"I dunno," he replied cautiously. "Last time we had a movie night with you and Lorelai, Lane here almost ended up in a sugar coma."

"Hey," defended Lane. "I'm an amateur. I know better now than to try and take them on in a junk food eating competition."

"You tried to take Rory on in a junk food eating competition?" asked Steph sceptically. Rory and Lorelai had had two movie nights since Rory had moved to Stars Hollow, but Steph had yet to attend one. She did however know of Rory's sugar tolerance from their movie nights in Boston. She made the assumption that Lorelai's sugar tolerance at least equalled Rory's, if not surpassed it.

"And failed miserably," laughed Rory. "I know just the movies to watch. I'll call Lorelai."

Rory grabbed her phone and walked out the front door of the diner. From where she was standing, she smiled as she watched one of her oldest friends, and two of her newest friends sitting at the table. They were laughing about something, and Rory sighed happily, glad that the people she cared about got along with each other.

"Mom," she started eagerly as Lorelai picked up the phone. "We're having a movie night tonight. Jess, Lane, Steph and I. And I know just the movies to watch."

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: I'm back from my vacation! After I caught up on some much needed sleep (never, ever fly with a hangover... especially if it is windy...) I read over this chapter again, edited it a little, and thought everyone deserved it right now!**

**I've become re-immersed in this story - I'm really enjoying writing it at the moment (not that I ever don't enjoy writing it!), but at the moment I'm very motivated to write it, because I have a fairly good idea of where it is going, and what is happening in each chapter!! I should have plenty of time (fingers crossed!) to write over my university break - so I'm going to aim to have updates every 1 and a half weeks (I do still have to work, much to my disappointment!).**

**Remember... REVIEW!! I love knowing if everyone reading the story likes the direction it's heading in - so please, let me know! Constructive criticism is also very much encouraged, I like knowing if people think I could be doing something better, and how :) **

**People keep asking about Logan and the boys...  
So here it is... they will be coming back - but not all at the same time. That is pretty much all I will say on the matter (laughing evilly)! To find out when one or more is/are coming back, you will have to review! ***The SNEAK PEEK of chapter 16 will include a little more of a hint in regards to the Limo boys!!*****

**Ciao, Avery xoxo**


	16. Unexpected Surprise

**_DISCLAIMER: I own nothing..._**

**Chapter Sixteen:**

As the last bell rang, signalling the end of another school day, and coincidently, the end of another school week, Rory jumped out of her desk and rushed to her locker. Waiting there for her was Tristan.

"Hey," he said as he pulled her in for a kiss.

"Hey, she replied happily as she turned back to her locker.

"So, Saturday," started Tristan.

"Yes," replied Rory, turning her attention back to her boyfriend. "Saturday you come to Stars Hollow and meet Steph."

She clapped her hands together out of excitement, and then frowned.

"That felt weird," she admitted. "Too… happy."

"It looked weird," confirmed Tristan laughing. "But I am looking forward to meeting one of your best friends. You have the grandparent's dinner tonight?"

"Yep," confirmed Rory. "At the Gilmore's. It's kind of weird, they were never really a big part of my life, and it feels like they're trying to over compensate."

"It'll calm down," predicted Tristan. "You just aren't use to having grandparents in your life."

Rory nodded. As far as Tristan knew, every second Friday she had dinner at the Gilmore's house. He had no idea she had another set of grandparent's living just down the road, with whom she was very close. She tried to dismiss the nagging question in the back of her mind. If Tristan knew nothing about her father, and she had never mentioned him, how was it he assumed a set of grandparents weren't a regular fixture in her life?

Shaking her head in an attempt to dislodge the nagging feeling of guilt that was settling in her stomach as a result of the lie she was living, Rory pulled her bag from where she had it rested on the edge of her locker. Leaning over to give Tristan a quick peck on the cheek, Rory said goodbye, and waved at her other new friends at Chilton who were walking over to them, before running down the hall.

"What's up with Gilmore?" asked Duncan as the rest of them made it to where Tristan was standing.

Tristan shrugged her shoulders.

"Grandparent dinner?" he guessed as an answer to his friend's question.

Duncan nodded and shrugged at the same time, before turning his attention back towards some other topic.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"Steph," said Rory in a warning tone.

She had been trying to suppress upon her best friend for about a half hour now just how important it was that she not say anything about their life in Boston. The last thing Rory needed was for Tristan to accidently find out who she was, especially from someone else.

"Relax Lore," laughed Steph from where she was perched on the end of Rory's bed. "It's going to be fine."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about," moaned Rory, her voice stressed. "We should call this whole thing off. That's it. I'm calling Tristan. I'll say you came down with pneumonia or something."

"Lore, it's summer."

"Fine, then severe heatstroke."

"We live in Connecticut, and don't you have to spend a lot of time in the sun, doing, like, exercise or something to get heatstroke? If Tristan knows you at all he will know you don't exercise, so it's a fair bet considering I'm your best friend that I don't enjoy it either."

"Stop being logical," growled Rory, frustrated.

She knew Steph was right. If she called Tristan and cancelled now, he would think she had changed her mind about him meeting Steph, which, technically, was true. But she didn't want him to know that.

"You just need to breathe Lore, and stop worrying about every little detail. I do know how to behave in public. I promise I'll be on my best behaviour."

Rory rolled her eyes at the mocking tone Steph had adopted for her last couple of sentences.

"I know you can behave well in public Steph, we were raised in high society. That's not what I'm worried about. In the last couple of minutes you've called me 'Lore' three separate times."

"I promise not to call you 'Lore'," vowed Steph, holding her left hand to her heart and her other hand in the air as though taking an oath.

"I don't appreciate being mocked," said Rory darkly, turning away.

She was worried about Tristan meeting Steph, but not just because of the secret she was keeping. She didn't want her two worlds to collide like this. She needed to keep them separate in order to cope. Lane and Jess had been different. She had been able to tell them who she really was, but she knew she couldn't tell Tristan that information. So instead, she had to introduce him to one of her best friends, but lie about almost everything she and Steph had ever shared.

"Why did I let you talk me into this," moaned Rory, lowering her head to rest on her desk.

"Because you admire my tenacity, and you knew from past experience that I wouldn't give in until I got what I wanted," answered Steph frankly. "Come on, lets go to Luke's. Tristan is due to meet us there in 45 minutes and I'm sure you want to lecture Lane and Jess as well."

Rory nodded seriously, knowing that Steph had been joking, but herself being quite serious.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory sat at a table in Luke's diner with Jess, Lane and Steph, jiggling her leg up and down and nervously watching the street outside.

Jess rolled his eyes at Lane and Steph, who both attempted to suppress giggles in response. All three of them thought Rory was overreacting, but they'd all given up trying to convince her of that.

True to Steph's prediction, Rory had lectured Lane and Jess once she and Steph had gotten to the diner. The lecture had been shorter, and less frustrating than the one she had given to Steph, because Lane and Jess had actually met Tristan before, and had proved their ability to keep Rory's secret. A point which Jess made clear on numerous occasions, only to be silenced by Rory each time.

"There's his car," said Rory suddenly, jumping to her feet.

"Breathe," replied Steph shortly. "And sit. At least let him get into the diner before you try to run interference."

Rory nodded and sat back in her seat, twiddling her thumbs in her lap.

"Hey," greeted Tristan as he walked through the door of the diner.

Lane and Jess nodded back a greeting.

"You must be the wonderful Stephanie that I have been hearing so much about," continued Tristan as he reached their table. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," replied Steph. Rory felt an uneasy feeling creep into her stomach, the smile on Steph's face was just a little too bright for her liking. "I've been hearing about you forever."

"Really now?" questioned Tristan, raising his eyebrows and smirking at Rory. "You talked about me a lot? I knew you liked me right from the start."

"She said she'd hear about you, but she said nothing about hearing good things," teased Rory as she got up from her seat to greet her boyfriend.

"You're hurting my feelings," replied Tristan, a mock pout on his face.

"I'm sure you'll survive," retorted Rory. "Shall we order?"

"Ooh, yes, I'm starved," answered Steph fervently.

Rory felt her uneasiness about the situation start to ebb as she poured over the menu in front of her. She mentally chided herself for doubting her friend's abilities to keep quiet about her secret.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory smiled happily to herself as she listened to Louise and Maddie debate over the proposed changes to skirt length. She was oddly happy for a Monday morning. Steph and Tristan meeting on the weekend had gone smoothly, with not a single slip up about who she really was.

Tristan's arm was slung casually over Rory's shoulder, and every now and then he would give her a slight squeeze.

"What are you looking so happy about," questioned Paris suspiciously.

"Can't someone just be happy?" Rory asked with a laugh. Paris would never stop surprising her.

"You look Stepford Wife type happy," replied Paris, frowning slightly at Rory, as though trying to figure something out.

"Well, I'm just normal happy Paris, I promise. Life is just good right now."

"That's sickening," answered Paris after a moment's thought. "You're going to go and get all complacent now, and then you're going to start flunking out of all of your classes. And then who is going to challenge me?"

Rory just shook her head, smiling, instead of answering Paris. She decided that silence was her best weapon against Paris' last line of questioning.

"Excuse me," interrupted a voice from behind Tristan and Rory. "But could someone please point me in the direction of the headmaster's office?"

Rory felt all the blood rush from her face. It couldn't be. But that voice was so familiar. She would know it anywhere. Slowly she turned around, coming face to face with one of the last people she expected to see dressed in a Chilton Prepatory Academy school uniform.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: Okay, so I know this chapter is a little (or a lot) later than I had planned to upload it, but life has been crazy busy, and there was one part of the chapter (which I have eventually deleted) that I just could not get right. That was causing alot of the delays. **

**Anyway, so I have decided just not to set myself a time limit for the next chapter, because at the moment it is just too hard. But I will keep writing so hopefully you shouldn't have to wait too long for the next chapter!!**

**Avery xoxo**


	17. An Old Friend at Chilton

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing...**_

**A/N: I'm back! I know it has been an incredibly long time since I updated this story, and for that I apologise. Since it has been so long, I have made this a nice long chapter. This chapter was originally going to be split into two chapters, but I decided that since I haven't updated the story in so long, those people still interested in reading it deserved a nice long chapter :)**

**Chapter Seventeen:**

Rory's eye widened as she stared at one of the last people she had expected to see standing in front of her in a Chilton Prepatory Academy school uniform. Colin McCrae.

"Hi," she said quickly in a falsely cheerful voice, "I'm Rory, I'll show you the way."

Without waiting for Colin to respond, Rory grabbed him by the arm and led him swiftly in the direction of the headmasters office.

"That was strange even for Rory," Madeleine commented indifferently.

Tristan frowned, agreeing with Maddy. Rory was acting strange. Every now and then she would act strange, and Tristan was convinced it had something to do with the secret she was keeping from everyone. He hadn't mentioned her secret since Rory's first week at Chilton, but it was always niggling at the back of his mind.

He sighed and tried to put it out of his head. If Rory was keeping a secret from them all she had to have a good reason. Right?

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"What the hell are you doing here?" demanded Rory coldly, after she had pulled Colin into a deserted part of the school.

"Nice to see you too Lorelai," muttered Colin, rubbing the stop on his arm that she had dragged him off by. "It's not like we haven't seen each other in ages. A hello might have been nice. How have you been Colin? Fine thanks, and you?"

"None of that was my doing Colin," replied Rory tersely. "You boys were the ones that left. And you boys were the ones that didn't bother telling Steph and I that you were leaving until the day before."

"Why are you even here Lore?" asked Colin, ignoring her comments about their leaving. "Why aren't you in Boston with Chris? I know he is still there, he was at a party my parents held on the weekend."

"It's a long story Colin," replied Rory with a sigh. "And I need you to not call me Lorelai anymore."

"I'm sorry?" asked Colin, acting confused. In truth he knew why Lorelai the third was here in Hartford. While he had been away at boarding school his parents housekeeper had helped him keep an eye on what was going on back in Boston by sending him all of the newspapers.

He had seen all of the articles and photos of Lorelai while he had been away. The story behind her coming to Hartford he had put together from bits of gossip from various people back in Boston. People in high society loved to talk. But he wanted Lorelai to trust him enough again to tell him herself.

"No one knows that I am Lorelai Hayden here," Rory explained. "As far as everyone here is concerned, my name is Rory Gilmore, and I'm quiet and bookish."

"Seriously?" asked Colin, laughing slightly.

Rory glared at Colin. She wasn't ready to forgive him quite so easily, which meant he wasn't allowed to laugh and joke about her current living/name situation.

"Yes, seriously," she replied coldly.

"Why?" asked Colin in a slightly more solemn voice, hoping Lorelai, sorry, Rory, would open up to him. He knew it was a long shot, considering she was still hurt from the way he, Logan and Finn had left Boston.

"That's not really something I feel comfortable sharing with you at the moment," replied Rory softly.

Colin looked at his old friend for a moment, then slowly nodded his head.

"So you're Rory Gilmore now," he stated slowly, showing that he would play along with the game.

Rory nodded her head in confirmation, grateful that Colin seemed to accept what she was asking, even if she wasn't prepared to give him any more information.

"And we don't know each other either," stated Rory firmly.

"Okay," agreed Colin with a sigh. Whether he liked it or not, he was going to have to go along with it if she wanted if he had any chance of getting her to tell him what happened herself. "Can you show me to the principal's office now?"

"It's just down the hall and to your right," replied Rory in a bored tone, as she turned to walk in the opposite direction.

"Rory," called out Colin after her. Rory stopped and turned back to face him. "I'm sorry. You know, for leaving the way we did. Will we ever be able to be friends again?"

Rory paused for a moment, absorbing the words that were coming from one of her oldest friends.

"I don't know Colin," she said wearily. "Whether you meant to hurt me or not, you did. I need time to think. You showing up here was the last thing that I ever expected. I have a completely different life here now."

Colin nodded, and turned to follow the directions Rory had given him. He was determined to make it up to Rory, but for now he was just going to give her the space she had requested.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

The rest of the day passed in a blur, and when the final bell rang, Rory shot out of her seat, eager to get home and call Steph.

"Wooah there," said Tristan playfully as Rory almost collided with him in her efforts to get out of Chilton as fast as possible. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"Tristan, hi," said Rory, in a slight daze. Tristan frowned slightly at Rory's behaviour. He didn't know what was wrong, but she had been acting weird all day, ever since that new kid showed up this morning.

Rory had insisted that she didn't know the new guy, but Tristan was sure that there was more to the story than that.

"Rory?" asked Tristan, trying to break her out of the daze she seemed to be in.

"Sorry," said Rory, shaking her head slightly. "I'm in a bit of a rush Tristan. Is it okay if I call you later?" Without waiting for Tristan to respond Rory rushed off down the street.

Tristan frowned again, worried about his girlfriend. He took a deep breath and tried to let it go for now. Instead he turned his attention to the new guy who was just coming out of the building.

"Colin," called out Tristan, trying to get his attention.

Tristan knew of the new guy, although they had never met before. It was kind of like that in high society, the kids from powerful families knew who the other kids from powerful families were, even if just by name. Plus, he knew his cousin Austin went to the same school that Colin use to go to in Boston. He made a mental note to ask Austin a bit more about this guy.

"Hi," replied Colin as he got closer to Tristan. "Tristan DuGrey right?"

"Yep," confirmed Tristan. "And you're Colin McCrae. Formerly of Boston. What brings you to Chilton?"

"You know," replied Colin nonchalantly, "the usual stuff. Parents thought boarding school was a good idea. Realized fairly quickly that boarding school was a bad idea. They decided to pull me out before the school expelled me and so here I am, in Hartford Connecticut, attending Chilton."

"Rory Gilmore use to live in Boston," replied Tristan casually, hoping to find some sort of information.

"Really," said Colin in the same nonchalant voice. "Didn't know any Rory Gilmore." Colin decided that that was close enough to the truth to hopefully not raise any suspicions, without outright lying. Because really, he didn't know a Rory Gilmore when living in Boston. He knew a Lorelai Hayden.

"Well, anyway, I have to be going now," continued Colin, wanting to get out of the conversation. He had to get home to figure everything out in his head before he accidently said something that would ruin things for Rory. "Got a few things to do, having just moved and all. Catch you around tomorrow?"

"Yeah sure," replied Tristan, his mind back to thinking about Rory and her strange behaviour. "Tomorrow."

Tristan watched as Colin jumped into his car and sped out of the car park. He was certain there was more to the story than either Rory or Colin was telling him. And he was fairly sure it had something to do with the secret Rory had accidently admitted to when she had first come to Chilton.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory looked around her to check that there were no Chilton students in sight before punching in the gate code and walking into the Hayden complex. She knew neither of her grandparents would be home this afternoon, so she walked straight to her car, unlocked it and got in.

Once she was safely in her car she leant forward and rested her head on the steering wheel, sighing heavily. Colin showing up a Chilton was not in her plans. Not at all. She turned on the car and pulled out of the Hayden's drive way. But instead of turning towards Stars Hollow to go home, she turned her car onto the road that would lead her straight to Boston. She needed to talk to Steph in person.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory sighed as she pulled up in front of Steph's apartment building. Lorelai hadn't been overly impressed when she had called her from the road. It was only the fact that she was visiting Steph that eventually made Lorelai relent and all Rory to continue to Boston.

That and the promise that she would stay with Chris for the evening. It was a long drive back to Stars Hollow and Lorelai didn't want Rory driving all the way back again that evening.

Rory knew that Lorelai had called Chris as soon as she had hung up, and she knew that she should call her dad now that she was in Boston. But to be honest she was afraid to. She still didn't know exactly where she stood with her dad. Their relationship had gotten better over the last few weeks, but she got the feeling he was still disappointed in her.

"Daddy," she said softly into the phone when Christopher answered.

"Lorelai," sighed Chris, having been expecting a call from his daughter. "You're in Boston?"

Rory nodded her head, before realizing that Chris couldn't see her. "Yep," she replied audibly.

"Where?"

"I'm at Steph's," she replied, still unsure of what mood Chris was in. Was he going to be angry that she had come to Boston, and especially on a Monday evening when she had school the next day.

"We'll talk when you get home," said Chris, not wanting to get into any long conversation on the phone. When Lorelai the second had called him, she sounded worried about their daughter. She said Rory had sounded sad, and distant, on the phone. "Be home by eight?"

"Okay dad," replied Rory, glad that he didn't seem angry at least.

Rory hung up the phone, and put her problems with her dad to the back of her mind. She would deal with Chris that evening when she got home. It felt strange calling Chris' house in Boston home at the moment.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory climbed out of her car and climbed the steps out the front of Steph's apartment. She pressed the doorbell, and waited for an answer.

"Hello," came the familiar voice of Steph's housekeeper, Alison.

"Hi Alison, it's Ro- Lorelai Hayden," replied Rory nervously. She used to get along really well with Steph's housekeeper.

Just like Elissa, Chris' housekeeper, Alison had been with the Vanderbilts for years, and had practically raised Steph. Rory wasn't sure if Steph had told Alison anything about the past few months, but she knew Alison would have at least read the papers.

"Lorelai," came a slightly shocked voice from the other end. "It's been a long time. Come on up sweetheart."

The door buzzed and unlocked, and Rory stepped into the building that had been like a second home to her growing up.

When the lift opened into Steph's parent's apartment Alison was standing waiting for Rory. As soon as she stepped out of the lift, Alison enveloped her in a massive hug.

"I'm glad you're back Lorelai," she whispered into Rory's ear. Rory blinked in an attempt to hold back tears.

Steph's parents must have either been out at a party or out of town. There was no way Alison would have hugged her if they were home. Steph's parents were the typical society parents, and as far as they were concerned, the staff should act in a certain way.

"Steph is in her room," said Alison as she released Rory, and straightened her uniform.

Rory nodded and smiled at Alison before heading towards the staircase that lead up to Steph's room.

******GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

"Steph," called Rory as she knocked on her friend's bedroom door.

The door swung open with a jubilant Steph on the other side.

"I can't believe you're here," said Steph happily. "Why are you in Boston? It's a Monday night."

"Oh, Steph," said Rory, a tear slipping out the edge of her eye. "Everything is about to fall apart."

Steph's face held a look of concern as she motioned for her friend come into her room and sit on the bed.

"What happened?" asked Steph.

"Colin started at Chilton today," answered Rory glumly.

"Colin Colin?" asked Steph, surprised. "As in our Colin? Colin McCrae?"

"The one and only," replied Rory, still looking miserable.

Steph sat silently on the bed next to Rory, unsure of what to say next. They hadn't spoken about the boys much, so Steph still wasn't sure exactly what Rory's feelings about the while situation were.

"I don't know what to do," admitted Rory with a sigh. "It was so good to see him again, but I'm still so angry about the way they left, and just about the fact that they left in general. I know it wasn't their decision, but it still hurts."

"I know," agreed Steph softly.

"And now I don't know how to combine the two parts of my life," continued Rory. "Chilton was meant to be completely different. No one at Chilton was meant to know who I am, it was meant to be a fresh start."

"Did Colin say something today?" asked Steph.

Rory shook her head in response.

"But you're afraid he will say something?"

"I don't know," said Rory. "I spoke to him this morning, and he said he wouldn't say anything. He agreed to calling me Rory Gilmore, and to pretending that we don't know each other. But what if he slips up. Or any number of other things? And what is Tristan finds out?"

"I don't know what to tell you Lore," replied Steph with a sigh. "But I think you can trust Colin."

Rory nodded in response. She certainly hoped so. She had so much to lose now, and she wasn't ready to let her new life go.

"Rory?" ventured Steph nervously. She wasn't sure how to approach this next topic with her friend, especially since they had just started talking again. "I've been talking to Colin again."

Rory looked at Steph with surprise. Steph hadn't mentioned this before now.

"Did you know he was coming back?" asked Rory, frowning.

"No, no," replied Steph quickly. "Not at all. And I didn't tell him anything about you, or anything that has happened. I've only just started talking to him again. But I just thought you should know. I don't want us to hide things from each other."

Rory nodded.

"Thanks for telling me," she replied softly.

******GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory sighed as she turned off her bedroom light. It felt strange to be back in her old room in Boston again.

She and Steph had shared a pizza for dinner, and spoken all about the boys, and everything Steph knew at the moment. Logan and Finn were still at the boarding school they had been sent to, but Colin's parents had pulled him out after they had started getting into trouble. Apparently they were worried he was going to get expelled, and wanted to preempt that.

When she had gotten home, Chris had been waiting for her. Rory had been so nervous about seeing Christ again that her palms were sweaty. It wasn't like it was the first time she had seen him since Stars Hollow, she had seen him at dinner with her grandparents. But this was the first time she had been back in Boston since she had gone to live with her mom.

They had had a bit of a chat, and Rory had explained why she had come to Boston. She told Chris about how Colin had started at Chilton, and how she was worried about her real identity coming out. He had listened patiently to her, then told her that it would all work out, and that he was proud of how well she had been doing in Stars Hollow.

******GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Christopher Hayden sighed as he sat in his living room, nursing a glass of scotch. It felt so right to have his daughter back in his house, sleeping in her childhood bedroom.

He thought about everything she had told his this evening. He hadn't let on at the time, but he was worried about what was happening at Chilton. Rory had been doing so well in Stars Hollow, and at Chilton. Her grades were back up again, she had made a good group of friends and she was behaving herself.

It wasn't Colin himself that he was worried about, Rory had been friends with Colin for years, and Chris knew that he was a good kid. It was the link to Rory's past that worried Chris. Rory's life in Stars Hollow and at Chilton was still shaky, and Chris didn't want anything ruining the progress his daughter had made. He was worried that if the truth came out about who Rory really was she would revert back to the Lorelai Hayden that had caused him to send her away.

He sighed again as he drained him glass of scotch and turned off the lights in the living room. There was nothing he could do about what was happening except hope that everything turned out okay.

******GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

When Rory woke up the next morning her school uniform was cleaned and pressed, waiting on her chair. She got dressed and headed down to the dining room for breakfast.

When she entered the dining room Chris was already sitting at the table, eyeing a half a grapefruit distastefully.

Rory let out a little laugh, unable to help herself. Francine Hayden was obviously still insisting that Elissa give Chris half a grapefruit for breakfast every morning.

"Good morning Lore," said Chris happily when he noticed his daughter enter the room.

"Morning Dad," replied Rory.

"Here's a note for school," he said, pushing a piece of paper towards her.

Rory looked down at the note. It excused her from the first two periods of the day.

"Thanks Dad," she replied gratefully. Missing the first two periods at Chilton without a note from a parent was a big no-no.

"Granny?" she asked Chris, not having to tell him what she was referring to.

"Damn grapefruits," replied Chris glumly. "At least choose a fruit that tastes nice."

"Just think of all the good it is doing for you," replied Rory with a giggle.

"It would be good for me to get a housekeeper that listens to me and not my mother," said Chris loudly, so that Elissa could hear him.

Elissa poked her head out of the kitchen.

"You're mother scares me more than you do Mr. Hayden," she replied simply.

Rory laughed again and grabbed a muffin from the basket on the table.

"You aren't going to stay for breakfast?" asked Chris as he noticed his daughter reach to grab a muffin while still standing.

"I can't if I want to make it to school in time for third period," Rory explained.

Chris nodded, and rose from his seat.

"It was good to have you back for a night kiddo," he told her as he hugged her goodbye.

"It was good to be back Dad," admitted Rory softly. "I've missed you."

"I'll see you soon," replied Chris as he released her from the hug.

"Friday night dinner," replied Rory. She laughed at the look on her dad's face when reminded of the dinner he was obliged to attend.

******GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: I have a plan for the next few chapters, so hopefully it won't take me long to put pen to paper and get them ready to update.**

**Since I have an idea of what the next few chapters will be, I will once again promise a sneak peek of the next chapter to those people who leave a signed review (I can't reply to anonymous reviews!)**

**Avery xoxo**


	18. Mending Friendships

**_DISCLAIMER: I own nothing..._**

**Chapter Eighteen:**

Rory sighed in relief as the bell rang. She had just sat through what felt like the longest history class ever. She was glad it was finally lunch time.

She glanced over to where Colin was packing up his things and for what felt like the millionth time this week tried to figure out what she was going to do. It was Thursday already, and she was no less confused than she had been when Colin first showed up at Chilton on Monday morning.

She turned her attention back to packing away her books, until a shadow fell across her desk. Rory looked up to find Colin standing in front of her.

"Can we talk?" he asked quietly.

Rory looked around her, and saw Tristan looking at them with an odd look on his face.

"Later," she replied quickly, not wanting to draw attention to them. "Meet me out the front of the school gates after the last bell goes. You can walk back to the Hayden's with me."

"Why don't I drive us?" asked Colin.

Rory shook her head at the suggestion.

"We walk," she stated firmly. "People know your car. I just can't risk anything connecting you or me to the Hayden's. And they'll wonder why I'm getting into your car as well. Just meet me out the front."

Rory collected her books and plastered a big smile on her face before walking out of the classroom to meet Tristan and her friends. Colin followed closely behind. He had quickly become friends with them all as well, partly because of his last name and prominent family.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory waited outside the front gates of Chilton after the final bell rang, unsure of what she was going to say to Colin. She had raced to her locker and grabbed her stuff quickly, hoping that she could meet Colin and get out of there before too many of the other students started to leaved the school grounds.

"C'mon Colin," muttered Rory under her breath.

Finally she saw him walk out of the building. She motioned for him to hurry up once he spotted her, and started to walk off down the street without waiting for Colin to get to her. He would catch up.

"In a hurry?" asked Colin playfully as he jogged to catch her.

Rory shot him a sideways look.

"This might all be funny, and a big joke to you, but I'm serious about keeping who I am hidden," replied Rory dryly.

"Sorry," replied Colin quickly, not wanting to start off on the wrong foot this afternoon. "I do understand."

He quickened his pace to show her he was serious. She chuckled and matched his pace.

It was nice having Colin back, and it felt so natural to hang out with him, but Rory wasn't sure if she wanted to forgive him yet. Or perhaps, not so much if she wanted to forgive him, but if she should forgive him. She wasn't sure she could risk getting hurt like that again.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Tristan watched from a window in the second floor as Rory stood impatiently at the school gates. He could tell she was impatient, as she seemed to be muttering under her voice and shifting from foot to foot.

He frowned as he wondered what it was she was waiting for. As soon as the last bell went she had almost sprinted out of the classroom.

Suddenly a look of recognition crossed Rory's face and she stopped fidgeting. She had spotted whatever or whomever she was waiting for.

Tristan scanned back towards the building, hoping that she wasn't waiting for who he thought she was waiting for. He felt guilty spying on his girlfriend, and he was hoping that his suspicions were wrong.

All his hopes deflated as he saw Colin spot Rory and walk over to her. She must have been in a hurry, as she started walking off before he got to her. He watched as Colin broke into a jog to catch up with her. They chatted as they walked down the road, and then Rory started laughing at something. Tristan took a deep breath and tried to convince himself not to jump to any conclusions.

He thought back to the conversation he had had with his cousin, Austin, on Monday night.

_**Flashback**_

"_Austin, mate, it's Tristan"_

"_Tristan," replied Austin. "How are you mate? Seen any leggy blonde friends of mine recently?"_

_Tristan grimaced at the insinuation. He had almost forgotten about Lorelai Hayden. _

"_Not since the party cuz," replied Tristan. "I've actually got myself a girlfriend at the moment."_

"_Seriously?" laughed Austin. "Never thought I'd see the day Tristan DuGrey would take himself off the market. Just once girl then?"_

_Tristan grimaced again at the way his cousin was portraying him. He partied more when he visited Austin in Boston than he normally did at home. _

"_Just one girl," confirmed Tristan, "and she's a really nice girl. Sweet, innocent, but doesn't take any of my crap. I think I really like her."_

"_Sweet and innocent hey?" remarked Austin. "Does that mean what I think it does? Coz if you're not getting any from this girl, and still calling her your girlfriend then she must be something pretty special."_

"_Yeah, she is," said Tristan softly. His voice back at his normal register, he continued. "But mate, that isn't what I called for."_

"_You didn't just call for a chat? I'm hurt!" said Austin, in a mock distressed voice._

"_Colin McCrae," stated Tristan. "You know him?"_

"_Yeah," replied Austin, matching Tristan's more serious tone. "He use to go to the same school as me up here in Boston. About four months ago him and a couple of his mates went off the boarding school. Funny actually, it was around that time that I started hanging out with Lorelai Hayden. She was a best friends with Colin and his mates, and a bit of a goodie goodie. I think she was fairly upset about it, and Mike invited her to a party, so the rest is history. She turned into the fun Lorelai Hayden that you met."_

_Tristan thought about this for a moment, surprised at the link between Lorelai Hayden and Colin McCrae. He took a deep breath, the next question he wanted to ask Austin was whether he knew Rory Gilmore, or whether he knew if Colin knew her. He felt guilty going behind Rory's back, but there was definitely something she wasn't telling him._

"_What about a girl named Rory Gilmore?" asked Tristan, leaving out the fact that Rory was in fact his girlfriend._

"_Nope," replied Austin, "never heard of her."_

_"You sure?" asked Tristan, frowning. He had been certain Austin would have been able to provide the link between Rory and Colin._

"_Yeah mate, I'm sure. I've never heard of a Rory Gilmore."_

"_Thanks cuz," replied Tristan._

"_Oh hey," said Austin, "before you go, I'm coming to visit you and your folks this weekend."_

"_Whole weekend?" asked Tristan._

"_I'll get to yours Saturday arvo, head back some time on Sunday," replied Austin._

_**End Flashback**_

He started to formulate a plan for the coming weekend, hoping like hell that it wouldn't backfire on him.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Rory led Colin into the Hayden's house, and up to the room that they kept for her whenever she wanted to stay over.

Neither Straub nor Francine were home that afternoon, but Jane had let them in, and promised to bring refreshments upstairs.

A knock on the door let Rory know that Jane was outside with their afternoon tea. She let Jane in, and Jane placed the tray on the desk.

"Let me know if there is anything else you need Miss Lorelai," said Jane politely before she turned to leave the room.

"Thanks Jane," replied Rory. After Jane had closed the door behind her, Rory turned to Colin. "You wanted to talk?"

"Lore, I miss you." said Colin simply. "You were one of my best friends, and I know it was crappy of us to tell you we were leaving a day before we had to leave, but you have to know, we only did it because we couldn't figure out how to tell you and Steph we were leaving. We didn't want to leave you two behind, and we didn't want to hurt you. Then it turns out that because we were so afraid of hurting you, we ended up hurting you more."

"You're rambling," stated Rory.

"I know," replied Colin, hoping that Rory was going to give him a chance. He missed his best friends, it wasn't the same with one of them not talking to him.

"Steph told me that much. About why you waited so long to tell us and all."

"You've spoken to Steph?" asked Colin, confused. "Steph told me you two weren't speaking anymore. She wouldn't tell me any details, but just that you guys had fallen out."

"Yeah, I know," replied Rory. "She told me Monday night. That's why I was late on Tuesday, I went back to Boston for the night. We only really reconnected a few weeks ago, after I had moved out here."

Colin nodded, accepting Rory's story. Rory sighed, and prepared herself to tell Colin everything that had happened since he left. She trusted him enough to know he wouldn't judge her, and while they would have to rebuild their friendship slowly, she needed someone here in Hartford that she could talk to.

Steph was great, but she was all the way in Boston, and Rory couldn't keep making trips to Boston every time she needed to talk to someone who knew the real her.

"Wow," replied Colin after Rory had finished telling him everything that had happened to her over the last four months. "I see why Chris sent you out here now."

Rory frowned slightly.

"Sorry," said Colin quickly as he noticed her frown, "I didn't mean anything by that, its just. Well, you changed a bit after we left."

"I know," admitted Rory. "I was out of control. I'm actually glad that Dad sent me out here, but it's just hard hiding who I am from everyone."

"I don't doubt it," replied Colin. "Especially Tristan, since you'd already met him and all."

"I know," moaned Rory, burying her head in her hands. "He's going to find out one day, and I don't know what I'll do when he does. He's going to hate me."

"Cross that bridge when you come to it," suggested Colin. "All you can do right now is try to be a truthful as you can. It's not like anyone has right out asked you if you're Lorelai Hayden."

"Yeah, but it's a lie of omission. I'm not sure they are going to think that's any better than an outright lie," admitted Rory. "Plus Tristan knows I have a secret. He figured it out right when I started at Chilton. He hasn't mentioned it since, but he won't have forgotten it."

Colin nodded, and shrugged.

"Just keep being you, but not you," suggested Colin.

Rory turned and hit him with a pillow.

"That's the most confusing advice you have ever given me," she laughed.

Colin hit her back with a pillow, and soon they were both smiling and laughing, each armed with a pillow.

After a while they both collapsed back onto the bed.

"I should be getting back to Stars Hollow," said Rory. "But I'm glad we had this chat."

"Same," replied Colin. "Oh, and Lore? Tristan spoke to me on Monday. In a round about way he sort of told me you were from Boston, and asked me if I knew Rory Gilmore. I told him I didn't know a Rory Gilmore when I was living in Boston. Just a heads up, in case it comes up or something."

Rory nodded, taking in the information, and wondering again how this was going to keep on working.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

Tristan took a deep breath. He had come up with a plan, but he also knew that this plan had the ability to backfired on him, big time.

Austin coming to visit this weekend had given him the perfect excuse to hold a party. He was going to invite all of his Chilton friends, but invite Rory and Colin early.

He was sure there was more to what Rory and Colin had told him, and he was determine to find out what that was. He thought that perhaps if they were confronted with Austin then something would come out.

"Colin, Rory," he called out as he approached their lockers.

Colin and Rory both turned and waved at him. He walked over to them and gave Rory a peck on the cheek.

"Hey Tristan," Rory said happily. She had been in a good mood ever since she had spoken with Colin yesterday. It felt like a weight had lifted from her shoulders. Kind of like what her dad use to tell her; a problem shared is a problem halved.

"I know it's last minute, but I'm having a party tomorrow afternoon/evening. You guys are both invited."

"Thanks mate," replied Colin with a smile. "I'll be there."

"And of course I will as well," replied Rory, leaning against Tristan.

Tristan took a deep breath. Next came the lie. His plan wouldn't work if the two of them didn't show up early.

"It starts at 4pm," said Tristan. "Rore, since Colin doesn't know where my house is how about you pick him up on your way from Stars Hollow?"

"Okay," replied Rory, shrugging her shoulders before turning to Colin. "I can pick you up just before 4pm, then we can head around to Tristan's, okay?"

"Sounds great," replied Colin, closing his locker. "See you both in class."

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

By that afternoon the entire school had heard about the party, and everyone was buzzing with excitement. Tristan was slightly worried that Rory and Colin would somehow realize that they had been invited much earlier than everyone else, but that didn't seem to have happened.

His whole plan had fallen into place. He just wasn't sure whether or not that was a good thing.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG**

**A/N: I was so excited that people were actually reading my story again that I just had to upload the next chapter right away! Thank you to everyone that is reading my story, I got almost 1700 views for it on Sunday alone, and to a writer that really is a great feeling!**

**And please - REVIEW! I don't have the next chapter written yet, and reviews from people who are enjoying the story are what motivate me to write quicker! So the morale of the story - the more people who review the quicker the next chapter appears!**

**Avery xoxo**


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